Highlights:
- Javed Akhtar had filed the criminal complaint against Ms Ranaut in November last year.
- The actress was accused of making defamatory and unfounded remarks against him in a television interview.
- In December 2020, the court ordered Juhu police to investigate Akhtar’s allegation against Ms Ranaut.
The Bombay High Court today denied Kangana Ranaut’s petition for the quashing of criminal defamation proceedings launched against her by a Mumbai court based on lyricist Javed Akhtar’s complaint.
The applicant’s (Kangana Ranaut’s) appeal “stands dismissed,” according to High Court Judge Revati Mohite Dere, who reserved her decision on the plea on September 1.
Ms Ranaut, through her lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee, had challenged the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court’s defamation proceedings earlier this year, claiming that the court had failed to apply its mind to the matter. He said that Akhtar provided no proof and that the material relied on was provided by a third person who was not interrogated on oath.
Siddiquee went on to say that it was a “one-sided investigation” because the magistrate used his powers under the CrPC “without application of mind” and needlessly requested the police to conduct an investigation for him by delegating powers to them.
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Mr Akhtar’s lawyer, Jay Bharadwaj, told the high court that the magistrate ordered the police investigation after reviewing the lyricist’s complaint and excerpts from Kangana Ranaut’s interview in which she allegedly made the defamatory statements.
Akhtar said in his lawsuit that Ranaut made defamatory comments on national and international television, “in what seems to be a clear campaign to defame and tarnish (Akhtar) in the eyes of the general public.”
After the Magistrate Court in Andheri started proceedings against actress Kangana Ranaut in February and issued a bailable warrant in March, the Bollywood star appeared in court and asked bail, which she was granted.
Javed Akhtar filed a criminal case against Kangana Ranaut before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate in November last year for allegedly uttering defamatory and unfounded statements against him in a television interview with journalist Arnab Goswami.
The court instructed the Juhu police to undertake an investigation into Javed Akhtar’s allegation against Kangana Ranaut in December 2020, and then began criminal proceedings against her, summoning her in February this year.
