[Breaking] Javed Akhtar moves Bombay High Court alleging Kangana Ranaut made misleading statement in passport renewal hearing

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut deliberately failed to disclose facts in order to obtain a favorable order for her passport renewal, lyricist Javed Akhtar has alleged in an intervention application filed before the Bombay High Court on Friday..Akhtar sought to intervene in the writ petition filed by Ranaut challenging the First Information Report (FIR) filed against her for allegedly infringing the copyright of the book ‘Didda: Warrior Queen of Kashmir’..Ranaut had filed an interim application in the case, seeking directions so that the Regional Passport Authority, Mumbai renews her passport. Ranaut had told the Court the authority was raising objections due to the FIRs registered against her..During the hearing, Ranaut had made a statement to the Court that there were "no criminal cases are pending against the petitioner in any Court arising out of two FIRs"; one registered in connection with her tweets allegedly promoting religious enmity and the second pertaining to alleged copyright infringement..Based on this statement, the passport authority had earlier assured the Court that Ranaut's passport renewal application will be considered as expeditiously as possible..Akhtar has now sought to intervene in the matter. His intervention petition filed through Advocate Jay Bharadwaj contends that the statement made by Ranaut is false, misleading and made with an intention to obtain a favourable order..He submitted that the query put forth by the Court essentially required Ranaut's lawyer, Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, to confirm that "no criminal cases were pending against Ranaut". .However, Akhtar claims that the response made by Ranaut's lawyer was limited to criminal proceedings arising out of only two FIRs and without mentioning another pending criminal defamation complaint which had been filed by Akhtar against Ranaut..Javed Akhtar files criminal defamation complaint against Kangana Ranaut .He stated further that Ranaut should have brought this factual position before the Court, especially when she was in complete knowledge of pendency of this criminal case. .The complaint had been filed by Akhtar against Ranaut's statements made against him in an interview with Arnab Goswami which was aired by Republic TV..He stated in his application that the Magistrate had issued notice to Ranaut in February 2021 and upon her failure to appear in the Court, had also issued a bailable warrant in March 2021..Akhat's contends that Ranaut had knowledge of the proceedings based on the following facts:She had appeared before the Magistrate and applied for bail which was granted by the Magistrate. She had also challenged the order issuing process and bailable warrant before the Dindoshi Session Court which was dismissed by the Court in April 2021. Ranaut had also approached the Magistrate court for exemption from personal appearance on several dates which was granted by the Court.