The Bombay high court this morning (September 9) rejected Kangana Ranaut’s plea to quash criminal defamation proceedings initiated against her on a complaint by writer-lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar. The order of rejection was passed a few minutes back.
The actress had claimed that the Andheri (Bombay) metropolitan magistrate court had initiated proceedings against her by relying only on the police report and had not examined witnesses independently. Her appeal stated that the magistrate did not use his own powers for an inquiry but blatantly used the police machinery to collect the signed statements of the witnesses, which was unheard of. Her appeal added that it was likely that the witnesses were influenced by the police. She explained that the magistrate should have recorded evidence of the witnesses under oath to establish if an actual case was made out. However, the high court today rejected Kangana’s quash plea. The hearing in the metropolitan magistrate court is scheduled for later this month.
Javed Akhtar had claimed in his complaint of November 2020 that Kangana Ranaut had tarnished his reputation when, in the aftermath of suicide by Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020, she claimed on a TV news channel that Javed Akhtar had threatened her with dire consequences if she did not do as he desired. In December last year, the magistrate court directed the Juhu police in Bombay to conduct an inquiry into Akhtar’s complaint. Following the police report that an offence was indeed made out, the magistrate court initiated criminal proceedings against the actress and also issued her summons in February this year after she failed to be present in the court.