MUMBAI: In a recent development in the defamation case involving Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar, the Bombay High Court denied Ranaut's request for a stay on the trial. Kangana Ranaut seeking a stay of action in addition to having another complaint against the well-known lyricist combined with this one.
According to a popular news portal report, Kangana Ranaut's writ petition to stop or club the proceedings was denied by Justice Prakash Naik since Kangana never said that the cases were cross matters. According to Justice Prakash Naik, “At this stage the relief sought in the petition cannot be granted. Earlier it was never contended by the petitioner (Kangana) that both cases are cross cases.”
For those unfamiliar, on August 8, a sessions court requested that Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut respond to veteran poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar's application challenging the summons that the magistrate's court had given to him in a case that she had filed.
A Z Khan, the additional sessions judge (Dindoshi court) presiding the case concerning alleged criminal intimidation, issued Ranaut with a notice seeking her response and adjourned the issue until a later date.
In his petition for revision, Akhtar asked the sessions court to consider the summons as a "hasty and inappropriate manner" that led to a "grave miscarriage of justice" by the suburban Andheri metropolitan magistrate's court.
The plea, submitted by attorney Jay Bharadwaj, contended that, on the face of it, there is no evidence in the court file indicating that the magistrate had enough information or passing the impugned order.
“The magistrate simply proceeded on the bald and unsubstantiated arguements made in the complaint without ascertaining the overall factual matrix and the judicial record,” the plea said.
It went on to say that the magistrate was unaware of the significant prejudice that would be done to the petitioner's rights if he were forced to stand trial in a case in a time-barred matter, especially since none of the sections of the complaint's allegations applicable.
The 76-year-old lyricist filed a case in 2020, alleging that Ranaut had defamed him in a live interview and that this had harmed his reputation. He said that the "Queen" actress had dragged him into the interview, citing a "coterie" that exists in Bollywood in the wake of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's alleged suicide in June 2020.
Later, the 36-year-old actor accused Akhtar of "extortion and criminal intimidation" and filed a countercomplaint in the same court. In her suit, Ranaut stated that the lyricist had summoned her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his home after she had a public spat with a co-star. She claimed that the lyricist had invited them with "malafide intentions and ulterior motives and then criminally intimidated and threatened" her.
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Credit- News 18
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