Bombay High Court dismisses Kangana Ranaut's plea seeking quashing of defamation case initiated on Javed Akhtar's complaint
Zee News
Javed Akhtar had filed the criminal complaint against Kangana in November last year before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in a television interview.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday (Sept 8) dismissed a plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking the quashing of proceedings initiated against her by a local court on a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar. Justice Revati Mohite-Dere said in the order that there was no procedural illegality or irregularity in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's order initiating the proceedings. Ranaut, in the petition filed through her lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee, had challenged the defamation proceedings initiated earlier this year, saying the magistrate's court did not independently examine the complainant (Akhtar) or witnesses. It relied solely on the report filed by Juhu police, the petition contended. Advocate Siddiquee argued that the police's inquiry into Akhtar's complaint was "one sided." Also, the police collected signed statements from witnesses illegally, he alleged. Akhtar's lawyer Jay Bharadwaj argued that the magistrate directed police inquiry only after going through the complaint and excerpts of the interview in which Ranaut had made the alleged defamatory comments. The police summoned witnesses and Ranaut herself during its inquriy, but the actor never responded to the summons, he claimed.More Related News