The Andheri (Bombay) metropolitan magistrate court yesterday (July 27) granted one “last chance” to Kangana Ranaut to exempt herself from appearance in the defamation case filed against her by writer-lyricist-poet Javed Akhtar. “Exemption application filed by advocate for accused is granted for today as a last chance, and the advocate is directed to keep the accused present on next date without fail,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate also rejected a plea submitted by Javed Akhtar’s lawyer for issuance of a non-bailable warrant against the actress. “On failure of accused to remain present before the court on next date, they (complainant) may file application for warrant against her,” the court said. Javed’s lawyer told the court that the actress had failed to appear before the court for five consecutive dates (March 26, 2021, April 30, 2021, May 28, 2021, June 11, 2021, June 25, 2021) on some pretext or the other and had essentially misused the liberty. Stating this, Javed’s lawyer said that she cannot be granted the relief of permanent exemption as sought by her. Kangana had in June 2021 filed an application for permanent exemption from appearance in the case. Akhtar pointed out that the proceedings were at a stage where they would not take place if Kangana was not physically present. He submitted that Ranaut’s conduct was such that it indicated a casual approach as she had never remained present in the court except for her bail. The court will likely pass an order on the permanent exemption application of Kangana on September 1.
Javed Akhtar had said in his plea before the magistrate that Kangana had defamed him and damaged his “immaculate reputation” on July 19, 2020 when, in the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise, she had attributed, in an interview to Arnab Goswami on Republic TV and Republic Bharat, statements to him (Akhtar). The complaint added that Kangana proceeded to give her opinions on the circumstances around Sushant’s death without appearing to have any direct personal knowledge of these. The plea also said that in the same interview, she had referred to Javed as being part of an alleged “suicide gang”.