HC reserves order on Kangana Ranaut’s plea seeking quashing of defamation proceedings
On September 1, the Bombay High Court reserved its order on a petition filed by a Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut cancellation request criminal defamation proceedings On the complaint of lyricist Javed Akhtar, a metropolitan magistrate’s court in the city has registered a case against him. Kangana Ranaut’s lawyer had challenged the defamation proceedings. In her plea, the actress said that the trial court did not independently examine the complainant or the witnesses named in the complaint against her, but instead relied on the discretion of the Juhu police and initiated a case against her. Kangana’s counsel told a single bench headed by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere that the police investigation into Akhtar’s complaint was only “one-sided”. Kangana’s lawyer Siddiqui told Bombay HC, ‘My witnesses were never examined. The magistrate should have ensured that neither party is harassed. On the other hand, Javed Akhtar’s counsel told the bench that the magistrate had ordered a police inquiry after going through his complaint and interview excerpts in which Ranaut had made the alleged defamatory remarks. Akhtar’s counsel further argued that the police had called witnesses and the persons concerned, including Ranaut, to ensure that the investigation was fair, but the actress never responded to the summons. Javed Akhtar A criminal complaint was filed against Kangana Ranaut for allegedly making derogatory and baseless remarks against her in a television interview before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate in November 2020. A month later, in December, the court directed the Juhu police to investigate Javed Akhtar’s complaint. The police later informed the court that the defamation charge was leveled against the actor by Akhtar, which was prima facie made out, and further investigation of the same was required. Accordingly, the court went ahead and initiated criminal proceedings against the actress and issued summons to her in February this year. The Bombay High Court is now expected to pass an order on Kangana Ranaut’s plea on September 9.
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