Javed Akhtar moves Thane court seeking rejection of defamation suit against him for comments on RSS

Lyricist Javed Akhtar has filed an application before a Thane court seeking rejection of the defamation suit filed against him for his remarks comparing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to the Taliban.

. The defamation suit filed by RSS member and activist Vivek Champanerkar before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thane, sought compensation to the tune of ₹1 from Akhtar.

. Akhtar in his application filed through advocate Jay K Bharadwaj stated that the activist has no locus or cause of action to file the suit.

. Akhtar challenged the suit on two grounds:

- that alleged defamatory remarks are towards non-determinable, non-identifiable, non-defined and non-definite body/class of persons, and therefore, there is no specific person or even a specific class of persons who has been allegedly defamed;

- even assuming but not admitting, that there is a specific class of persons, which has been allegedly defamed, even in that case, the present plaint is not maintainable, as the said specific class (alone) could file the plaint and not the plaintiff in his individual capacity.

. Akhtar's application stated that the alleged defamatory remarks made by him are not specific either towards the RSS or the existing member of RSS.

"The said remarks are extremely general in nature and are not related either to a specific person or to an identifiable class of persons. The said remarks were not limited to RSS and is existing members, but were rather made towards a larger group of people, including those who would like to join RSS. It is indeterminable as to who are the persons, who would like to join RSS. Hence, the remarks were towards an un-identifiable class of persons, ” the application said.

. After hearing the application for a while, the Thane court directed the complainant to file his response and adjourned case for further consideration on February 10, 2022.

. The suit by Champanerkar, filed through advocate Aditya Mishra, stated that on a television show discussing the recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, Akhtar allegedly drew parallels between the two organisations in order to defame and vilify Hindus.

It was submitted that the allegedly derogatory remark was for " mere political score in a well-planned move to set narrative against RSS ".

Javed Akhtar moves Thane court seeking rejection of defamation suit against him for comments on RSS

Neha Joshi

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