A Thane court yesterday issued a notice to veteran screenwriter, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar on a Re1 defamation suit filed against him by a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The suit was filed against the writer's comments in a television interview drawing parallels between the ideology of the RSS, which he did not name, and the Taliban.
According to legal news website LiveLaw.in, the suit was filed by Vivek Champanerkar seeking a symbolic compensation and a permanent injunction against the writer for his comments. The notice is returnable by 12 November.
The website quoted Champanerkar's counsel telling the magistrate that "the plaintiff states he has been hurt by defendant's defamatory statement to tarnish the image of plaintiff's organization and hence he is in loss of rupee one which the defendant is liable to compensate him".
This is the second defamation suit involving Javed Akhtar. The 76-year old poet himself has filed one against actress Kangana Ranaut for trying to connect him with Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide last year. At the latest hearing of the case, Ranaut submitted a plea to transfer the case to another court saying she had 'lost faith' in the magistrate hearing the case.