A Sessions Court in Mumbai, on Wednesday, rejected the application filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking to transfer the defamation case filed against her by lyricist Javed Akhtar to a different judge.
The court also turned down another plea filed by Ranaut to transfer her cross-complaint against Akhtar outside Mumbai’s Andheri. This complaint is an extortion case against the lyricist, which was filed by the actor in response to his defamation case.
The defamation case dates 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 of actor Sushant Singh Rajput by suicide. In the interview that aired on July 19, 2020, Ranaut said that some of the senior members of the Hindi film industry, including Akhtar, were part of a “gang” that was against “outsiders.”
The latest plea was the actor’s sixth attempt to transfer the case to a different judge.
Earlier in January, Ranaut had moved the Mumbai Sessions Court challenging the Magistrate Court’s dismissal of her plea seeking transfer of her extortion case against Akhtar.
In December 2021, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court had dismissed the actor’s plea seeking transfer of this complaint on the grounds of alleged bias of the Andheri Magistrate hearing the defamation case. Ranaut had said that she did not wish to proceed with her extortion complaint before the same judge.
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In the extortion case, the actor alleged that during her public spat with actor Hrithik Roshan in 2016, Akhtar invited Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with malafide intentions and forced her to give a written apology to Roshan. She also claimed that the veteran lyricist threatened her with dire consequences if she refused.
Ranaut’s latest plea invoked the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court under section 408 of the CrPC (Power of Sessions Judge to transfer cases and appeals) after the Additional Sessions Judge SU Baghele rejected her revision application on three technical grounds. However, the fresh application was also rejected on Wednesday by Additional Sessions Judge SM Bhosale.