Kangana Ranaut today (September 20) filed a counter-complaint against writer-lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar in a Bombay court, alleging “extortion and criminal intimidation”. She has accused Akhtar of threatening her and also said, she had “lost faith” in the metropolitan magistrate’s court at Andheri in Bombay, which is hearing Akhtar’s criminal defamation plea against her. Ranaut’s lawyer informed the court of a request to transfer the case.
Kangana Ranaut’s counter-complaint is in response to a defamation suit by Javed Akhtar, who has alleged that the actress dragged his name into a TV discussion last year soon after the demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
During the filing of the counter-complaint, Kangana’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddique, accused Javed of making threats, although, of his own admission, these alleged threats are an old matter. He said, “Kangana and Rangoli were called to Javed Akhtar’s home… Javed Akhtar had no locus in their matter but he called them and threatened them… this is not today but this has been reported for three or four years and Kangana said it many times — that she was scared and her modesty was outraged.” He added, “Kangana did not file a complaint, thinking of his age… (but) because he is now aggressively moving forward in this matter, she got permission from her family to file her complaint.”
Siddique also said, his client did not trust the judge — metropolitan magistrate R.R. Khan, who last week warned her that failure to appear for today’s hearing could lead to a warrant. He explained, “Kangana’s health is still not completely fine… but still I told (her) that you come to the court so that it does not feel that we are not coming. Why is the judge repeatedly calling Kangana to the court? Threat to issue warrant was given twice…” The actress wants the judge in this case to be changed, he declared.
At the previous hearing on September 14, when Kangana had sought exemption, Javed Akhtar’s lawyer had told the court, her request was an “orchestrated tactic to delay the case proceedings”.
Earlier, the actress’ plea to cancel the defamation suit was rejected by the Bombay high court.
Rizwan Siddique argued that the Andheri metropolitan magistrate had “mechanically ordered the enquiry” against his client “without assigning (any) reasons”. Javed Akhtar’s lawyer, Jay Bharadwaj, sought dismissal of the plea, saying, “the magistrate had applied his mind to direct an inquiry after examining Mr. Akhtar’s complaint”.
After hearing both the sides, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere said, she found no procedural illegalities or irregularities in the magistrate court’s order initiating the proceedings. The transfer plea will come up for hearing on October 1.