Mumbai court issues notice to Kangana Ranaut in defamation complaint by Javed Akhtar

A Mumbai Magistrate court on Monday issued notice to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut in a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar against Ranaut for her statements made in an interview aired by Republic TV with Arnab Goswami..Metropolitan Magistrate RR Khan had earlier directed the Juhu Police to investigate the case and submit their report to the Court. Pursuant to the same, the Police had submitted a report. .The Court was informed on Monday by Akhtar's lawyer, advocate Jay Kumar Bharadwaj that the report stated that offences alleged against Ranaut were made out for further investigation..As per Akhtar's complaint, Ranaut had, during her interview with Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami, allegedly commented that Akhtar was part of a "Bollywood suicide gang" who could "get away with anything".Referring to an alleged conversation cited by Ranaut in the interview as having taken place between her and Akhtar, he submitted that there was a witness to the conversation, a doctor..With regard to this, Bharadwaj submitted on Monday that the report by Juhu police had statements from the common witness including the doctor who testified that no such conversation as alleged by Ranaut in the interview took place..Bharadwaj apprised the court that Ranaut had refused to respond to the summons which was issued by the Juhu police for interrogating her..Bharadwaj also submitted a video clip of the interview to highlight the viewership the video had garnered..He said that great damage was caused to Akhtar by that interview which was aired on TV and shared widely on YouTube..Upon briefly hearing the submissions of Bharadwaj, the Court issued notice to Ranaut returnable on March 1, 2021 summoning her for appearing in Court.[Read order]