A Mumbai Magistrate court has issued notice to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut in a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar against Ranaut, for her statements made in an interview aired on Republic TV.
The Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, RR Khan, issued summon to Ranaut after hearing reports of Advocate Jay Kumar Bharadwaj on behalf of Javed Akhtar, in the case filed by the lyricist against the actress for allegedly defaming him on national television.
Kangana Ranaut will appear before the court on 1 March 2021.
Earlier in December 2020, the Andheri metropolitan magistrate directed the Juhu police to conduct an inquiry into the complaint of defamation filed by Akhtar against Ranaut before the court in November last year.
Subsequently, the police on Monday submitted their report to the court, stating that offenses alleged by the complainant (Akhtar) against Ranaut are made out for further investigation.
Magistrate R R Khan, after perusing the report, issued summons to Ranaut.
Akhtar’s advocate Jay Kumar Bharadwaj on Monday told the court that the police last month issued summons to Ranaut, asking her to remain present before the police for recording her statement. However, the actor is yet to respond.
Background
As per Akhtar’s complaint, Ranaut had, during her interview with Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami, allegedly commented that Akhtar was part of a ‘Bollywood suicide gang’ who could ‘get away with anything’.
Referring to an alleged conversation cited by Ranaut in the interview as having taken place between her and Akhtar, he submitted that there was a witness to the conversation, a doctor.
With regard to this, Bharadwaj submitted on Monday that the report by Juhu police had statements from the common witness including the doctor who testified that no such conversation as alleged by Ranaut in the interview took place.
