Mumbai Sessions Court Reserves Order On Kangana Ranaut Plea Against Javed Akhtar

Kangana Ranaut against Javed Akhtar: A sessions court in Mumbai's Dindoshi area has reserved its order in the revised petition filed by Kangana Ranaut against the Magistrate Court proceedings in the defamation case filed by Javed Akhtar.

According to law scholars, when a court reserves an order it means that the judge has listened to arguments made by all the parties concerned and is going to give its judgement on a later date. In the defamation case filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar against actor Kangana Ranaut, this development comes after the bail issued by a court for the actor.

Earlier in March, the Magistrate Court in Andheri had granted temporary bail to Kangana Ranaut. She had to furnish a surety amount of ₹15,000 in addition to a cash surety of ₹20,000. Ranaut later filed a revision petition in Mumbai Sessions Court against the court proceedings.

Magistrate R R Khan had also issued a bailable warrant against Ranaut on March 1 when she didn't respond to the court summons. The Magistrate said, "For willful absence of accused (Ranaut) without any justified reasons, despite service of summons, issue bailable warrant of ₹1,000 against accused Kangana Ranaut."

According to him, Ranaut had not even filed an exemption application to excuse herself from the court proceedings.

Defamation Case:

In an interview with news channel Republic TV, Kangana Ranaut had allegedly mentioned lyricist Javed Akhtar's name in connection with actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Akhtar then filed a criminal defamation suit against Ranaut on November 3, 2020, in which he claimed that Ranaut had made "baseless allegations" against him in order to tarnish his "immaculate reputation by falsely attributing statements to him." A case was registered by Akhtar's lawyer Jai Bharadwaj under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC.

Akhtar's lawyer presented the case by trying to establish his reputation that exists in the public forum, "The complainant is one of the most senior artists in the film industry with his successful career spanning over more than 55 years, which in itself is a rare achievement. Apart from this, he was also nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha during the period March 2010 to March 2016."