Javed Akhtar, the Hindi lyricist and poet, has moved a plea in a Mumbai court on Monday seeking a non-bailable warrant against actor Kangana Ranaut for not appearing before the court in the ongoing criminal defamation case filed by him against the actor, Live Law reported.
In the plea, Akhtar submitted a few of the actor’s Instagram posts, stating that she had attended other events during the time she did not appear in court citing ill health. He also listed the number of exemptions sought by Ranaut in the case for various reasons since March.
Akhtar further alleged Ranaut of ‘deliberate attempts’ to delay the court proceedings in the case while pointing out that Ranaut did not place any medical certificate on record while seeking exemption due to ill health.
Allowing the exemption applications filed by both Ranaut and Akhtar, the court has adjourned the matter to January 4, 2022.
The defamation case traces back to November 2020 when Akhtar filed a complaint against Ranaut, alleging that she had made defamatory remarks about him during an interview with Republic TV after the death 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”.
After several failures to appear before the court in the case and a warning from the magistrate that a warrant would be issued against her if she failed to appear, Ranaut finally appeared in court on September 20. At the time, she had sought to transfer the defamation case claiming she had “no faith in the court”. Her plea was dismissed by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Esplanade, Mumbai on October 21.
Earlier, on September 9, Ranaut’s plea seeking to quash the defamation case was dismissed by the Bombay High Court.
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Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police told the Bombay High Court on Monday that it will not take any coercive action against Ranaut till January 25, 2022 in the FIR filed against her over her recent “Khalistani terrorists” remarks about protesting farmers and the Sikh community, Live Law reported.
Recently, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the decision to repeal the three Farm Bills on November 19, following the year-long farmers’ protest, Ranaut posted derogatory Instagram posts following which a complaint was filed by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) at Mumbai’s Khar Police Station. Recently last week, Ranaut, the Hindi actor who is embroiled in several legal cases due to her social media posts and comments, moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash this FIR.