A Mumbai court has re-issued a bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Malaika Arora after she failed to appear as a witness in a 2012 assault case involving actor Saif Ali Khan. The case pertains to an alleged physical altercation at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, where an NRI businessman was reportedly assaulted.
Chief Judicial Magistrate K S Zanwar of the Esplanade court, who is currently recording witness testimonies, re-issued the warrant on Monday after Arora did not comply with an earlier summons dated February 15.
Arora was among a group of celebrities dining with Saif Ali Khan on the night of February 22, 2012, when the alleged incident occurred. Others present included Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Amrita Arora, and other male friends.
The case was registered after Iqbal Mir Sharma, a South Africa-based businessman, lodged a complaint accusing Saif of punching him in the nose following a verbal exchange over loud behavior at the hotel restaurant. Sharma also claimed that Saif and his friends assaulted his father-in-law Raman Patel.
Saif was later arrested along with his friends Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi, but all three were granted bail. The trio has been charge-sheeted under Section 325 of the Indian Penal Code (voluntarily causing grievous hurt).
Saif, however, has refuted the allegations, stating that Sharma made provocative and abusive remarks towards the women accompanying him, which led to the altercation.
The case, now over a decade old, is still in the trial phase, with the next hearing scheduled for April 29.
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