The Bombay High Court on Thursday quashed a complaint of domestic violence lodged against the late actor Rajesh Khanna’s wife Dimple Kapadia and her family, by Anita Advani, the alleged live-in partner of the Bollywood superstar in his twilight years.
Justice M. L Tahaliyani allowed petitions filed by Ms. Kapadia, her daughter Twinkle Khanna and son-in-law Akshay Kumar seeking quashing of proceedings initiated against them by a lower court on a complaint by Ms. Advani.
The woman who has claimed to be Khanna’s companion in his later days, had in 2013 filed a complaint claiming that she was evicted from the late actor’s suburban bungalow, the iconic 'Aashirwad' — which was last year sold out — after his death. She sought monthly maintenance and a flat in Bandra as she claimed that she was Khanna's live-in partner for 10 years. Khanna died in 2012.
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The Court observed that Ms. Advani’s relation with Khanna was not of the nature of marriage and so she could not seek relief under the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act.
It further held that all the family members of Khanna could not be brought into the case, under the DVA, as Ms. Advani had never lived with them.
The Court had recently discharged Dimple Kapadia's younger daughter Rinkie from the case observing that the DVA could not be applied to her as she was married and lived in Kolkata.
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Ms. Kapadia’s counsel had argued that Ms. Advani’s relation with Khanna could at most be described as “adulterous” and that a woman in a live-in relationship with a married man could not claim relief under the DVA.