Imran Khan moves Bombay High Court against order to leave India by October 28

Actor Imran Khan has gone to the Bombay High Court for an urgent stay on a notice from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) that orders him out of India by October 28. His lawyers, Zulfiquar Memon, Parvez Memon and Chirag Naik, plan to mention the petition for an urgent hearing on Monday.

The notice, dated October 14, followed his detention by Mumbai Police on October 10 near August Kranti Maidan, where protesters were demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. It was issued under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and treats the actor as a United States national accused of breaking provisions of the Act and its rules.

Khan wants it quashed. His plea calls the order arbitrary and disproportionate, and says it was passed without an inquiry, a show-cause notice or any chance for him to be heard. It argues that his rights to equality and life under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution have been breached.

According to the petition, the notice never names the provision he is supposed to have broken, or says when and how. It also faults the FRRO for seeing him only as an American citizen and setting aside the rights tied to his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. Khan has asked the office to produce the records behind its decision.

On the protest itself, the plea says the venue was not a restricted area and that no rule bars OCI cardholders from joining demonstrations. Footage, it says, will show he crossed no barricades and was leaving when media crews surrounded him. Khan has lived in India since he was two.

A fresh show-cause notice reached him on Saturday, the same day he filed. Reports say it asks why his OCI card should not be cancelled, and gives him 15 days to reply.