Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai dismissed actor Kangana Ranaut‘s plea on Thursday seeking transfer of the criminal defamation case filed against her by veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bar and Bench reported.
“If on the basis of false allegation, the matter is transferred, it will affect the morale of Presiding Officer,” the court said. “The Applicant has failed to make out a positive, concrete case to show that her apprehension is reasonable.”
Just because the court is proceeding with the case by following the procedure of law does not mean that it is biased against the accused, the court further clarified. “Unless some positive, concrete case is made out showing that, there is a reasonable apprehension of not getting fair trial or fair justice from the court, the proceeding cannot be transferred from one court to another on mere vague and general allegations.”
The defamation case traces back to November 2020 when Akhtar had filed a complaint against Ranaut alleging that she had made defamatory remarks about him during an interview with Republic TV after the death by suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput on July 14.
In the interview aired on July 19, 2020, Ranaut had said that some of the senior members of the Hindi film industry, including Akhatar, were part of a “gang” that was against “outsiders” in the industry.
After several failures to appear before the court and a warning from the magistrate that a warrant would be issued against her for this, Ranaut finally appeared in court on September 20. At that time, she had sought to transfer the defamation case claiming she had “no faith in the court.” Ranaut argued that the magistrate at Espalande was biased against her.
Stating that the offence initiated against her was “bailable, non-cognizable and compoundable,” Ranaut’s plea claimed that the magistrate sought to “misuse his powers and cause injury” at “every given opportunity” even before the trial had begun.
Ranaut’s lawyer further argued that it was unreasonable for the magistrate to seek the actor’ presence in court as in such cases, the physical appearance of the accused is not necessary and a lawyer could represent them. He also mentioned that the magistrate’s threat of a “non-bailable” warrant in the presence of the media was unfair to the actor.
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Akhtar’s counsel, however, clarified that the court had only mentioned that a warrant would being issued, and did not specify whether it would be a non-bailable warrant or arrest warrant.
They also argued that the plea filed by Ranaut was merely a ploy to delay the proceedings and said the judge was only following procedure.
Akhtar’s lawyers also accused Ranaut of maligning the lyricist’s reputation and of discussing the court proceedings in her social media account.
After hearing both sides of the arguments, the court dismissed Ranaut’s plea on Thursday.
Earlier, on September 9, Ranaut’s plea seeking to quash the defamation case was dismissed by the Bombay High Court.