Kangana Ranaut Moves HC Against Defamation Case Filed By Javed Akhtar
Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has approached the Bombay High Court seeking the quashing of proceedings initiated by a city magistrate on a criminal defamation complaint filed against her by lyricist Javed Akhtar.
Bollywood
actor
Kangana
Ranaut
has
approached
the
Bombay
High
Court
seeking
the
quashing
of
proceedings
initiated
by
a
city
magistrate
on
a
criminal
defamation
complaint
filed
against
her
by
lyricist
Javed
Akhtar.
In
an
appeal
filed
through
advocate
Rizwan
Siddiquee,
Ranaut
claimed
that
the
Andheri
metropolitan
magistrate's
court
initiated
proceedings
against
her
by
relying
only
on
the
police's
report
and
did
not
examine
witnesses
independently.
Akhtar
filed
a
criminal
complaint
against
Ranaut
in
November
2020
before
the
magistrate
for
allegedly
making
defamatory
and
baseless
comments
against
him
in
television
interviews.
In
December,
the
court
directed
the
suburban
Juhu
police
to
conduct
an
inquiry.
After
the
police
stated
in
its
report
that
an
offense
was
made
out
on
the
face
of
it
and
further
probe
was
needed,
the
court
initiated
criminal
proceedings
against
Ranaut
and
issued
a
summons
to
her
in
February
2021.
"The
metropolitan
magistrate
did
not
use
his
own
powers
to
conduct
an
inquiry
but
instead
blatantly
used
the
police
machinery
to
collect
the
signed
witness
statements...which
is
completely
unheard
of," the
actor's
plea
said.
It
was
likely
that
the
witnesses
were
influenced
by
the
police
and
the
magistrate
should
have
recorded
evidence
of
witnesses
under
oath
to
"establish
if
an
actual
case
was
made
out",
it
said.
The
high
court
is
likely
to
hear
Ranaut's
plea
next
week.