Supreme Court Rejects Anita Advani’s Marriage Plea

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former actor Anita Advani’s plea seeking legal recognition of her alleged relationship with late Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna as a marriage. Describing the matter as “luxury litigation”, a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale said there were no grounds to entertain her petition.

Advani had approached the Supreme Court challenging an April 1 order of the Bombay High Court, which had dismissed her appeal against an earlier decision rejecting her civil suit for a declaration recognising the relationship as a marriage.

During the hearing, Advani’s counsel argued that the case was about dignity and the recognition she was seeking through the civil proceedings. However, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the High Court’s order.

The dispute stems from Advani’s claim that she lived with Khanna for several years until she was evicted from his Mumbai bungalow, Aashirwad, in 2012. Khanna, one of Hindi cinema’s most prominent stars, died in July 2012.

Supreme Court Calls the Plea ‘Luxury Litigation’

The Supreme Court bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale observed that there was no ground to entertain Advani’s plea and rejected it.

During the proceedings, the court described the case as “luxury litigation”. Advani’s counsel responded by emphasising the personal significance of the relief being sought.

“I am seeking dignity. At the end of the day, my prayer in my civil suit which is for this declaration, is premised on some sense of dignity,” her counsel told the court.

Advani’s petition challenged the Bombay High Court’s April 1 decision, which had upheld the rejection of her civil suit. The original suit had been dismissed by the Dindoshi sessions court in Mumbai in 2017, after Khanna’s death.

By refusing to entertain the plea, the Supreme Court left the challenged High Court order undisturbed.

What Anita Advani Claimed About Her Relationship With Rajesh Khanna

Advani claimed that she had been in a live-in relationship with Rajesh Khanna for several years. According to her account, the relationship continued until 2012, when she was evicted from Khanna’s bungalow, Aashirwad, in Mumbai.

Advani alleged that Khanna’s estranged wife, veteran actor Dimple Kapadia, along with their daughter Twinkle Khanna and son-in-law Akshay Kumar, were involved in her eviction from the property.

Khanna died in July 2012. Following his death, Advani pursued legal action seeking recognition of her alleged relationship with him and other forms of relief.

Her central request was for a declaration that the relationship should be recognised as a marriage. The civil suit was rejected by the Dindoshi sessions court in 2017, and her subsequent challenge was dismissed by the Bombay High Court.

The Supreme Court’s latest decision concerned Advani’s challenge to that High Court order. The supplied account does not indicate that the Supreme Court made any separate factual findings about the nature or duration of the alleged relationship during Thursday’s hearing.

Bombay High Court Had Earlier Rejected Her Civil Suit

The legal dispute had passed through several stages before reaching the Supreme Court. Advani filed a civil suit seeking recognition of her alleged relationship with Khanna as a marriage, but the Dindoshi sessions court in Mumbai rejected it in 2017.

She challenged that decision before the Bombay High Court. The High Court subsequently dismissed her appeal in an order dated April 1, which she then challenged before the Supreme Court.

The dispute was also connected to separate proceedings initiated under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

In 2013, Advani filed a complaint before a magistrate under the Act against Dimple Kapadia, her daughters and her son-in-law. She sought relief connected to her claimed relationship with Khanna and the circumstances surrounding her eviction from his bungalow.

In 2015, the Bombay High Court quashed the complaint after allowing pleas filed by Kapadia and her family seeking its dismissal.

Why the Domestic Violence Complaint Was Quashed

While quashing the domestic violence proceedings in 2015, the Bombay High Court observed that Advani’s relationship with Khanna was not of the nature of a marriage. On that basis, the court held that she could not seek relief under the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act in the circumstances of the case.

The High Court also observed that Khanna’s family members could not all be included in the legal proceedings because Advani had never lived with them.

These observations formed part of the High Court’s decision to quash the complaint filed under the Domestic Violence Act. The proceedings were distinct from the civil suit in which Advani sought a declaration recognising her alleged relationship with Khanna as a marriage.

The civil suit was rejected by the Dindoshi sessions court in 2017, and the Bombay High Court later dismissed Advani’s appeal against that decision. Her latest challenge to the High Court’s order was subsequently rejected by the Supreme Court.

Advani Had Sought Monthly Maintenance and a Flat in Mumbai

Alongside her legal claims, Advani sought financial and housing-related relief. She asked for monthly maintenance and a three-bedroom flat in Mumbai’s upscale Bandra area.

Her requests were connected to the legal dispute arising from her alleged relationship with Khanna and her claim that she had been evicted from his bungalow in 2012.

Advani had appeared in a handful of films, including Saazish and Daasi. Her legal dispute with Khanna’s family attracted attention because of his prominence in Hindi cinema and the questions raised about the legal status of their alleged relationship.

The supplied account does not specify the amount of monthly maintenance sought or provide further details about the requested flat beyond its location and size.

Who Was Rajesh Khanna?

Rajesh Khanna was one of Hindi cinema’s best-known stars. His death in July 2012 preceded the civil proceedings in which Advani sought recognition of their alleged relationship as a marriage.

Khanna was married to actor Dimple Kapadia, although the supplied account describes her as his estranged wife at the time of the dispute. Their daughter is actor Twinkle Khanna, who is married to actor Akshay Kumar.

The legal proceedings brought attention to Advani’s claims about her relationship with Khanna, the circumstances of her eviction from Aashirwad and her requests for legal and financial relief.

The courts considered the claims through separate proceedings, including the domestic violence complaint and the civil suit seeking recognition of the alleged relationship as a marriage.

What the Supreme Court’s Decision Means

The Supreme Court rejected Advani’s plea challenging the Bombay High Court’s dismissal of her appeal against the rejection of her civil suit. The bench said there was no ground to entertain the petition and described it as “luxury litigation”.

The decision leaves the High Court’s challenged order in place. The supplied account does not indicate that the Supreme Court granted any of the relief sought by Advani.

The ruling followed earlier decisions in the civil proceedings and the separate domestic violence case. In the latter matter, the Bombay High Court had held that the alleged relationship was not of the nature of a marriage for the purposes of the relief sought under the Domestic Violence Act.

The two sets of proceedings involved different legal requests: one sought recognition of the relationship as a marriage, while the other involved a complaint under domestic violence legislation. Their outcomes should therefore be understood in the context of the specific claims considered by the courts.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court has rejected former actor Anita Advani’s plea seeking recognition of her alleged relationship with late Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna as a marriage. The bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale declined to entertain the challenge to the Bombay High Court’s April 1 order, describing the case as “luxury litigation”.

Advani had claimed that she lived with Khanna for several years before being evicted from his Mumbai bungalow in 2012. She subsequently pursued a civil suit seeking recognition of the relationship and filed a separate complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

The domestic violence complaint was quashed by the Bombay High Court in 2015, while the civil suit was rejected by the Dindoshi sessions court in 2017. After the High Court dismissed her appeal against the civil court’s decision, Advani approached the Supreme Court, which has now rejected her plea.