Bailable warrant against Kangana in Javed Akhtar defamation case

Trouble is brewing again for Kangana Ranaut, as a Mumbai magistrate court issued a bailable warrant against the Bollywood actor on Monday after she failed to appear before it in a defamation case filed by poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar.

The Andheri metropolitan court had summoned her on Monday (March 1) after the Juhu police had submitted a detailed report to the court on the alleged offensive statements she had made against the Bollywood veteran in a highly-publicised television interview.

On November 2 last year, Akhtar, through his lawyer Niranjan Mundargi, had filed a private complaint against the actor under Section 499 (defamation) and Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

In his complaint, he had said that he was shocked to learn that on July 19, Ranaut, in an interview to a TV channel, had falsely attributed statements to him, while also giving her opinion on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, “without appearing to have any direct personal knowledge of the circumstances around his death”, said an Indian Express report.

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Akhtar alleged that Ranaut had claimed that he had threatened her to withdraw a case against actor Hrithik Roshan. She had also called him part of an alleged suicide gang, who would allegedly get away with anything and had claimed that Akhtar threatened her that she will have no option but to take her own life if she did not take back the case against Roshan.

This triggered a host of hate calls and messages against him and he was also trolled on social media because of her allegations, he said. Akhtar, who said that he has been in the industry for more than 25 years, argued that the messages and comments had damaged his reputation. Her interview had been given, he alleged, “in what appears to be a clear campaign to malign and tarnish the reputation of the complainant (Akhtar) in the eyes of the general public”.

The Juhu police, which was directed by the court to conduct an inquiry on the allegations made by Akhtar, has submitted a detailed report to the court as well.

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On February 1, the Andheri court, after hearing arguments made on Akhtar’s behalf by lawyer Niranjan Mundergi, the Court in its detailed order observed that Ranaut has liberty to challenge the proceedings before any higher court. However, since there is no stay order obtained on the process against her, the Court proceeded to issue a bailable warrant against Ranaut with returnable date on March 26, 2021. Akhtar was also present in the court on the day.