High court reserves judgment on Rakhi Sawant's petition

The Allahabad high court today reserved its judgment on a petition filed by actress Rakhi Sawant who challenged an FIR lodged in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh seeking her arrest for allegedly abetting the suicide of a youth who appeared in a TV reality show hosted by her.

A division bench comprising Justice Imtiyaz Murtaza and Justice Ram Autar Singh reserved the judgement on the writ petition of Sawant against whom an FIR has been lodged at Prem Nagar police station of Jhansi by Savitri Devi whose son Laxman had taken part in Reality TV show Rakhi ka Insaaf.

The FIR alleged that at the show, Sawant used foul language against Laxman and called him naamard (impotent) which left him depressed, following which he gave up taking food, fell ill and died.

Appearing on behalf of Sawant, senior advocate Gopal Chaturvedi had argued that by using the word naamard the actress did not intend to say that Laxman was impotent but that he lacked the courage to protect his wife, leading to marital discord which had brought him to the TV show which claims to resolve problems being faced by people in their relationships.

The court had on November 29, while granting stay on the arrest of four persons named as co-accused in the FIR, held that the language used by the anchor of the show were "highly raunchy, offensive, uncivil and against all tenets of ethical norms".