Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar submitted in a Mumbai court that actor Kangana Ranaut’s petition to transfer the defamation case filed by Akhtar against her is “devoid of any merits.”
Last month, Kangana Ranaut, through her lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui, sought to transfer the case to another court saying she had “lost faith” in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court, where the hearings are currently held.
Advocate Siddiqui also inquired why the court insists that Kangana appear in court since it’s a bailable case. Kangana Ranaut had earlier requested an exemption from personal appearance.
Javed Akhtar filed a written reply through advocate Jay Bharadwaj, and said, “The present transfer petition is devoid of all merits and is liable to be dismissed at the very threshold. The same is only filed to delay the proceedings before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's court.”
"The grounds mentioned in the present application were raised for the first time after more than seven months of summoning of the applicant (Kangana Ranaut) with the sole intent to delay the matter," the filing stated, further calling the petition “an orchestrated tactic to delay the proceedings.”
The matter has been posted for hearing on October 18.
The magistrate court had issued a warning of an arrest warrant against Kangana Ranaut if she didn’t attend the following court hearing (on 20 September). Ranaut did appear on court on the 20 September hearing, and the matter was adjourned to 15 November.
Earlier, in March, Kangana Ranaut had filed to transfer four criminal cases registered against her and sister Rangoli Chandel, from Mumbai to Shimla. The petition was declared ‘infructuous’ for not following procedures.
Javed Akhtar had filed a defamation case against Kangana in 2020 for alleged defamatory remarks made against him during an interview on Republic TV after late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise.
Kangana Ranaut had also moved a counter complaint in court accusing Javed Akhtar of “extortion and criminal intimidation.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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