Akhtar vs Ranaut: actor to appear before court in defamation suit filed by Javed Akthar

Actor Kangana Ranaut is set to appear before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court on July 4 in a case related to a defamation suit filed by Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar.

When the case was heard in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's Court on Monday, the actress' advocate Rizwan Siddiquee demanded that the actor be excluded from personal appearance. The court directed Ranaut's counsel to file Pursis (written statement /information given to the court pertaining to any matter pending before it), stating that the accused will appear before the court on July 4, the date of the hearing.

An exemption was granted by the court to the actor after the Pursis was filed.

Akhtar's lawyer had demanded that a non-bailable warrant be issued against Kangana Ranaut for not appearing in court on more than one occasion. However, the court has reserved the heating on this plea.

In November 2020, 76-year-old Javed Akhtar filed a defamation suit against Ranaut alleging that she had slandered him by claiming that he was a member of the "suicide gang" in Bollywood who had forced "outsiders" like her to end their lives. This was in the context of the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year. Akhtar said that these defamatory comments during a television interview had damaged his reputation.

In the meantime, Kangana Ranaut has also filed a new extortion complaint against Akhtar, which will be heard only after Ranaut appears in court and provides her statement.

With inputs from PTI