A court in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has allowed television actor Sheezan Khan, who was arrested for allegedly abetting the suicide of his co-actor Tunisha Sharma, to travel abroad for the shooting of a TV show, saying he is currently jobless and can visit another country for work.
Sharma (21), who acted in the TV show Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul’ along with Khan, was found hanging in the washroom on the set of the Hindi serial near Vasai, located on the outskirts of Mumbai, on December 24, 2022. Khan, who was arrested the next day, walked out of jail on March 5 after securing bail.
Khan (28) recently approached the court for the return of his passport to travel to South Africa to take part in a popular reality show for nearly two months.
In his order on Wednesday, Additional Sessions Judge, Vasai, RD Deshpande said Khan’s lawyer Shailendra Mishra had submitted that he was the lead actor in the TV show Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul’ but lost the project after his arrest in the case and became jobless.
Khan said he has now received an offer for a reality show for which he is required to shoot in the Republic of South Africa between May 10, 2023, and July 6, 2023. He urged the court to permit him to fly abroad on the grounds that he has a family to support, said the order.
The actor also contended that “the right to travel abroad has been declared as an important basic human right by Hon’ble Apex Court in the catena of decisions, for it nourishes independent and self determining creative character of the individual”.
The court held that the actor cannot be prevented from going abroad for the purpose of employment.
“As held by Constitution Bench of Hon’ble Apex Court in the cited case Smt. Maneka Gandhi Vs. Union of India, expression ‘personal liberty’ as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India includes a right of a citizen to travel abroad and return to the home country without any impediment,” said the court in the order.
