Counsel for the actress had filed a plea before the court seeking exemption from attending the in-person hearing on grounds of illness.
Magistrate gives Kangana Ranaut 'last chance', exempts her from Javed Akhtar defamation hearing
Mumbai - 14 Sep 2021 15:50 IST
Our Correspondent
A metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai has granted actress Kangana Ranaut an exemption from appearing in the latest hearing of poet-lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar's defamation case against her. However, the magistrate warned counsel for the actress that this would be her 'last chance'.
According to the legal news website LiveLaw.in, magistrate RR Khan said a warrant would be issued for Ranaut's arrest if she failed to put in an appearance at the next hearing which is set for 20 September.
The magistrate took into consideration Javed Akhtar's counsel Jay Bharadwaj's submission that Ranaut's continued absence at the hearings was simply a tactic to delay proceedings.
Javed Akhtar had filed the defamation suit last year following Ranaut, in a television interview, claiming that the veteran screenwriter and lyricist was connected with actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death.
Javed Akhtar's complaint was taken up by the Mumbai police after a magistrate's court ordered it to do so. The actress had moved the sessions court and, later, the Bombay high court to quash the case but in vain.
The actress is currently in Mumbai after the release of her latest film, Thalaivii (2021).
