Court dismisses Kangana Ranaut’s plea in defamation case filed by Javed Akhtar

The sessions court in Dindoshi on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Kangana Ranaut against the order by a magistrate court which had initiated proceedings against her in the defamation case filed against her by lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar. 

Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui argued that both Akhtar and the witnesses needed to be examined under oath as per section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code. According to him, only the lyricist was examined but the witnesses were not. 

However, Akhtar’s lawyer Jay Bharadwaj argued that the witnesses were to be examined only if they were present. He also argued that by summoning Ranaut, she was being given a fair chance to respond to the complaint. But instead, Bharadwaj said, the actress composed tweets about the summons which was in ‘bad taste.’ 

The lyricist had filed the case last year accusing the actress of making derogatory remarks about him in an interview in July 2020 on the Republic channel following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Following this, Ranaut had approached the sessions court to dismiss the proceedings against her issued by a suburban court in Andheri. 

A bailable warrant was then issued against Ranaut. It was cancelled after the actress approached the court and provided a bail of Rs20,000 in cash and surety worth Rs15,000.