Payal Ghosh tenders apology to Richa Chadha

Actress Payal Ghosh has tendered an apology to Richa Chadha as terms of the settlement of the latter's defamation lawsuit. The actress' counsel submitted the formal apology in the form of an undertaking in the Bombay high court today. 

Chadha had sought Rs1.1 crore in damages from Ghosh for dragging her name into an allegation of sexual misconduct against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. The suit also named actor-turned-Twitter personality Kamaal R Khan (KRK) and a Telugu news channel.

The high court had asked both parties to decide the terms of the settlement by Wednesday. Earlier, on 7 October, Ghosh's counsel had submitted that the actress would apologise, but the latter denied it on social media later that day. Considering these factors, Chadha's legal counsel argued at a hearing on 12 October that the court ought to hear the issue on its merits since Ghosh and her counsel were submitting contrary statements. However, the court granted both parties more time to come to a settlement. 

Ghosh took to social media at 11.33 am, calling the development a 'win-win'. 

Ghosh also shared a snippet of the legal agreement wherein both parties agreed to not file any litigation before any court, calling it 'conditions' for the apology and an 'amicable' settlement. 

The actress' tweets seem to be a reaction to Chadha's own social media posts where she celebrated the victory. 

According to the legal website, LiveLaw.in, Dr Tulzapurkar, representing Chadha, also asked the court to direct the news channel to retract their reports based on Ghosh's remarks. 

The lawyer of Kamaal R Khan submitted that Khan will refrain from making any public statements on the case, and will also make a statement to that effect. 

The Bombay high court has granted the media channel and Khan four weeks to submit their statements.