Imran Khan, known for his work in Bollywood, was detained at a Mumbai rally where protesters were calling for the chief election commissioner to step down — and following that arrest, he received an order to leave the country within two weeks. The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) served Khan with a departure notice on Thursday, stating that his attendance at the demonstration the previous Saturday placed him in breach of the Foreigners Act, and the notice set 28 October as the date by which he was required to leave the country.
At August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, Imran Khan joined a demonstration calling for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from his post. Law enforcement took him into custody in the aftermath of the protest. According to a statement from Mumbai Police, as carried by a news outlet, Imran Khan took part in the protest despite holding no Indian citizenship.
Born in the United States and carrying an Overseas Citizen of India card — a document extending residency rights in India to people of Indian heritage without granting full citizenship — the actor, whose family connection runs through Aamir Khan and whose most recognised screen appearance came in the 2008 romantic comedy Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, holds American nationality as his primary citizenship status.
Somaiya, a BJP politician, urged authorities to take action against the actor, arguing that his attendance at the protest put him in violation of the terms attached to his OCI card and visa status. Somaiya, posting on X (formerly Twitter), called for Imran Khan to face charges relating to alleged participation in unauthorised political activity, along with breaches of Overseas Citizenship of India provisions and visa conditions. He noted that the rights afforded to foreign nationals differ from those held by Indian citizens, and on the day that followed, he described visiting a Mumbai police station to lodge a complaint against the actor, adding that a separate grievance had been submitted to the immigration division of the FRRO at Mumbai airport.
Holders of an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card — a document available to qualifying foreign nationals with Indian heritage — gain the right to reside and work on Indian soil on an ongoing basis, removing the requirement for a fresh visa at each point of entry. Citizenship is not granted through the card, and those who hold it are barred from voting or standing in elections, while remaining bound by the country's immigration rules. Holding OCI status comes with built-in constraints on a range of activities — journalism and research among them — unless the relevant authorisation has been obtained beforehand.
Khan, together with more than 400 others detained at the rally, was held by police at August Kranti Maidan — a ground in south Mumbai that carries particular historical weight as the site where, in 1942, the formal launch of the campaign to end British colonial rule took place. Two others taken into custody alongside Khan were actor Lekha Washington, who is his partner, and his cousin Zayn Marie Khan.
Demonstrations against the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision — a drive to check and refresh voter rolls — formed one strand of a broader organised effort. Formal complaints from opposition parties allege that the voter registration system, overseen by chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, contains procedural flaws that disproportionately affect their own supporters while benefiting the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. About 130 million voter registration records were removed from electoral rolls through a maintenance exercise that the overseeing body has defended as a necessary measure for eliminating duplicate and ineligible entries.
Protests demanding Kumar step down were staged across Delhi and Mumbai on Saturday by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a pressure group driven by young members. In Delhi, authorities took upwards of 2,000 people into custody after a planned gathering at Jantar Mantar was blocked from going ahead, while Mumbai police reported that more than 400 individuals were held during a separate demonstration there.
Khan clarified that his presence at the Mumbai rally was purely personal, unconnected to any party or organisation he might be affiliated with, adding that he was not there to put forward any demands. Speaking to reporters through a channel described as reputable, he identified himself as a local resident and posed a question about why the ability to move freely through the city was being curtailed.
Video circulating across multiple social media platforms showed Khan being guided into a waiting police van at the moment of his arrest, with footage accompanied by his words: "That is why I am here." Posting a photo of himself inside the vehicle, Khan wrote a caption indicating he was being taken for a drive; a separate video, which circulated widely, showed him questioning officers about the grounds for his detention, telling them he had no understanding of why he had been brought to that location. He recounted that the group was taken from the streets and directed to board the vans, as reported by a news outlet. According to his account, the group spent roughly two hours inside the vehicle before those holding them allowed them to leave.
Several people held by authorities after taking part in the protests recounted to local news outlets that officers hauled them along the ground, forced them onto buses, struck them with fists and feet while in transit, and later used batons against them. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented the detention of no fewer than 37 reporters across Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Pune, with a number of those journalists physically confronted or blocked while carrying out their work.
