Sreya Kanugula
On February 1, 2021, an Andheri magistrate court gave summons to actress Kangana Ranaut on the complaint lodged by lyricist Javed Akhtar for the defamatory remarks she made against him in an interview.
The lyricist-poet had initially approached the court in the month of November 2020. The statement he made was recorded on the 3rd of December by the magistrate as part of the complaint’s verification process.
Later, the Juhu police were given directions by the Court to inquire into the allegations made against the actress and submit a report on the same.
The filed police report was submitted to the court on February 1st, following which, magistrate R R Khan had given an order for the appearance of Ms. Ranaut in front of the court on the 1st of March.
A private complaint was lodged by Mr. Akhtra through his legal representative, Mr. Jay Kumar Bharadwaj against the actress under the category of Section 499 (Defamation) and Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.
He claimed that he had served under the industry for more than a quarter of a century now and Mr. Ranaut had damaged his reputation and defamed him in a single television interview.
During the interview, she had claimed that Mr. Akhtar had threatened her to withdraw the case she had lodged against her former colleague and Bollywood actor, Mr. Hrithik Roshan.
It was also contended that Ms. Ranaut had named him as a part of the ‘suicide gang’ and had allegedly threatened her saying that ‘if she didn’t back out, she will have no option but to die by suicide.’
These comments were made following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in June 2020. It was alleged that she had dragged his name with regards to the existence of a “coterie” in Bollywood after Mr. Rajput’s death.
Mr. Akhtar stated that due to the comments made, he had been the recipient of several calls as well as messages that criticised him.
He had also been trolled heavily on social media. Mr. Akhtar stated that he complained because the actresses’ comments had caused damage to his cherished reputation.