The Bombay high court dismissed actor Kangana Ranaut’s plea on Thursday, that seeked quashing of the criminal defamation proceedings initiated against her on a complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar’s, PTI reported.
Last year November, lyricist Akhtar had filed a defamation case in the magistrate court against Ranaut’s remarks about him during a TV interview with Arnab Goswami, while speaking on the death of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She had supposedly said, “Akhtar was part of a suicide gang and could get away with pretty much anything in Mumbai.”
Bombay high court judge, Justice Revati Mohite Dere, who on1 September 2020 had reserved order on the plea, on Thursday said that the applicant’s (Ranaut’s) petition “stands dismissed”.
Rizwan Siddiquee, appearing for Ranaut had challenged the defamation proceedings initiated by the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate’s court earlier this year, saying that the court had failed to apply its mind to the case.
However, Javed Akhtar’s counsel Jay Bharadwaj told the court that the magistrate court had directed for the police inquiry after going through the Akhtar’s complaint and excerpts of Ranaut’s interview, in which she had made the alleged defamatory remarks against him.
Last year in December, the magistrate had directed the Juhu police to carry out an inquiry into Akhtar’s complaint and then began criminal proceedings against her, issuing summons to Ranaut in February 2021.
(Inputs from PTI)
