Mumbai Court rejects Javed Akhtar plea against order summoning him over RSS Taliban remark

A Mumbai court on Monday rejected a plea filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar challenging a Magistrate order summoning him in a criminal defamation complaint for his alleged remarks comparing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to the Taliban. .Sessions judge Priti Kumar Ghule ruled that the order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate at Mulund summoning Akhtar, was legally sound and did not find any illegality in the order issuing process.The judge further opined that words uttered by Akhtar carried weightage considering his fame.“The present petitioner (Akhtar) is respectable person whose fame is worldwide for his lyrics, which are words and thoughts. The words uttered by him definitely carry weightage and are heard by public at large. The comparison of RSS volunteer organization to the Taliban mindset which has barbaric acts as stated by Akhtar himself, has ingredients prima facie to cause harm to reputation of RSS” the Court opined.The Court further observed that the reputation of RSS had been tarnished because of Akhtar’s words.“The reputation of volunteers, supporters of RSS is tarnished and message is given to world that RSS is similar to Taliban in Afghanistan. Thus, there is sufficient material to show reputation of RSS is lowered. A well known personality, if makes such statement on national channel, it is only to convey to world at large that RSS is like Taliban, barbarian”, the judge held. .The Magistrate had issued summons to the lyricist in a criminal complaint filed by a lawyer, Santosh Dubey in October 2021, under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Akhtar had been summoned on December 13, 2022 after the Magistrate had recorded the statement of complainant and two witnesses under Section 200 the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).Akhtar challenged the order through a revision plea filed through advocate Jay K Bharadwaj on the ground that process had been issued without conducting any enquiry as stipulated under CrPC. Akhtar claimed that the complainant had failed to show his locus to file such complaint. The plea also pointed out that the Magistrate's order was mechanical in nature and passed in haste without considering the circumstances in which the the statements were made..[Read order]