No plan to strip Saif Ali Khan of Padma Shri, govt says

NEW DELHI: The home ministry on Thursday denied any move to strip actor Saif Ali Khan of his Padma Shri award, conferred on him in 2010, in the wake of a Mumbai court framing charges against him for assaulting an NRI businessman at a city hotel.
“The home ministry’s reply to the RTI filed by S C Agarwal to know the status of his own complaint, stating that the matter is under examination, is a routine response to any query that relates to a pending complaint.The home ministry has to call for necessary records from the state government or the courts to validate the charges made in the complaint ... this takes time and the merits of the complaint are finally decided on the basis of these records. Until then, technically, the matter is said to be under examination,” a senior home ministry official said, adding that such a response was not reflective of an endorsement of the complaint.
Though Padma award rules state that the “President may cancel or annul the award of the decoration to any person”, they are silent on the fate of the awardee in the event of his being charged or convicted by a court of law at a later date for any offence.
“Due diligence is done, including a background check by the intelligence agencies, before a person is conferred the Padma award. Also, a multi-member expert committee screens the nominations for the civilian honour ... this process was duly followed while processing Saif’s case,” a home ministry officer said.

Saif Ali Khan (right) with fellow actor Shah Rukh Khan. (TOI file photo by Shriram Vernekar)
“As for the cases filed against a person after he receives the award, we cannot go by a mere chargesheet or even conviction by a court lower than the Supreme Court. Even after the conviction, the government has the discretion to weigh whether the conviction relates to an offence serious enough to negate the awardee’s lifetime achievement in a given field … for instance, it may not be fair to strip a person with outstanding achievement in a field just because he is convicted in a case relating to a minor scuffle,” the officer said.

Saif Ali Khan with wife Kareena Kapoor. (TOI file photo by Raju Shelar)
Saif was conferred Padma Shri in 2010. In 2012, he was charged with assaulting a South Africa-based businessman and his father-in-law at Taj hotel in Colaba, Mumbai. Charges were framed against him by a Mumbai court in the case in February this year.
Saif, son of actress Sharmila Tagore and late cricketer M A K Pataudi and married to actress Kareena Kapoor, has also been charged by a Jodhpur court in the 1998 blackbuck shooting case.