The Bombay High Court has rejected a plea by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking a stay on the criminal defamation case filed against her by lyricist Javed Akhtar in 2020 and further for the case to be clubbed with the cross-complaint she subsequently filed against him, as per a report by Live Law.
Justice PD Naik said the order would be pronounced on 2 February.
In continuation of the report, in her petition, filed through advocate Rizwan Siddiqui, Ranaut argued that since both Akhtar’s defamation case and her complaint stemmed from the same incident in March 2016, they should be treated as cross-complaints and therefore should be heard together.
Moreover, Javed Akhtar had lodged a defamation complaint in November 2020, alleging that Kangana Ranaut had made defamatory statements about him during an interview with Republic TV.
The notice was issued against her in February 2021. Ranaut challenged the summons in the sessions court and subsequently moved to challenge the entire proceedings before the high court, both of which were dismissed.
In reply, Javed Akhtar, with representation from advocate Jay Bhardwaj, alleged that Kangana Ranaut's actions as an effort to prolong court proceedings. He contended that the central event for his defamation case was Ranaut's 2020 interview with Republic TV, while Kangana's case was linked to an incident in March 2016.
Akhtar emphasized the significant delay of nearly 5-and-a-half years in filing the cross-complaint, implying that it was a strategic move to exert pressure on him.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)