The Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate court in Mumbai has ordered the police to probe the complaint of poet and Hindi film lyricist Javed Akhtar’s complaint against actor Kangana Ranaut. The court directed the police to conduct an inquiry and submit a report on the same. The police have been told to submit the report on January 16, 2021.
Akhtar had filed a criminal complaint in November against Ranaut for making defamatory statements against him during a television interview. The complaint had been filed under Sections 499 and 500 (Defamation and Punishment for Defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. The court had also recorded his statement on December 3 to verify the complaint.
The interview has raked in more than six million views on YouTube.
According to a report by The Hindu, Akhtar’s advocate Niranjan Mundaragi said that Ranaut had defamed Akhtar by linking him to the suicide of the late Hindi film actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Mundaragi said that the comments made against the veteran lyricist had damaged his reputation by making remarks against him on television and social media.
After Rajput’s death by suicide in June, Ranaut had put out several videos on social media blaming the Hindi film industry of nepotism.
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According to a report by The Times of India, the plea also stated that: “At the same time, needlessly dragging the complainant’s name into an unconnected sensitive matter is tantamount to extending veiled threats to the complainant, who is an extremely respectable member of the film fraternity.”
Akhtar’s complaint stated that during an interview in July, the Manikarnika actor had defamed him by saying that he played a part in the suicide of Rajput and he had threatened her that she will also be forced to take her life if she did not back down. In the interview, Ranaut had also stated that Akhtar had threatened her to withdraw her case against actor Hrithik Roshan.