Rakhi Sawant seeks anticipatory bail, court says it would give transit one

A Ludhiana court had issued a warrant against Rakhi on March 9 on a complaint that she hurt sentiments of the Valmiki community.

Mumbai, Apr 7: Fearing arrest for allegedly making offensive remarks against sage Valmiki, Bollywood actor Rakhi Sawant on Friday sought anticipatory bail from the Bombay High Court, which said it would give her 'transit bail' instead.

Justice Ajey Gadkari, before whom her plea came up for hearing, said he would grant the TV actress a transit bail' for the period of travel to Punjab to enable her seek pre-arrest bail from the court which had issued the warrant against her.

The judge, however, reserved his order on Sawant's plea for April 10. A Ludhiana court had issued a warrant against Rakhi on March 9 on a complaint that she hurt religious sentiments of the Valmiki community by her comments against sage Valmiki, the author of Ramayana, in a program last year.

Last year, actress Sawant allegedly compared singer Mika Singh with Valmiki. She allegedly claimed that Valmiki was once a murderer but later wrote the Ramayana. Interestingly, Sawant had charged singer Singh with molestation case in 2006.

Sawant later denied the allegations, "I am not Salman Khan, I am just a simple girl who does social work and work in movies, you won't get anything by putting charges on me." According to reports, she also said that she did not receive any summons from the court. In one of her video addressing the public, she said that she compared Mika with Valmiki in an instance as an example.

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She said' I just gave an example from what I have learnt in my childhood. Just like Valmiki, who changed from being a robber to a saint, Mikaji has also changed. It was just an example." She also apologised to the Valmiki community for hurting their sentiments.

PTI