Author Ashish Kaul files contempt petition against Kangana Ranaut days after Bombay HC refused Javed Akhtar's plea

After the Bombay High Court recently refused to hear veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar’s intervention plea against Kangana Ranaut, author Ashish Kaul has now filed a contempt petition in the court. He has alleged that the actor lied to the court in order to get her passport renewed. Talking about the contempt petition, Kaul’s lawyers Adnan Shaikh and Yogita Joshi told The Times of India, “We served a letter to Javed Akhtar Ji and found out through his reply that there was concealing of facts in the Passport Application and this is a serious offence. We are duty-bound to bring this to the notice of the Hon’ble High Court and if fraud committed upon the court is established then there are bound of be repercussions”. Earlier this year, in January, Kaul had filed a copyright infringement case against Ranaut after she announced the sequel to her 2019 film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi titled Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda. The movie is reportedly based on the life of ‘The Cleopatra of Kashmir’ Didda who is known for ruling the Valley during the 10th and 11th centuries for around five decades. The announcement took Kaul by surprise as he has penned a book on the ruler. At that time, he had claimed that he is the sole copyright owner of the biography. In the latest turn of events, Kaul has clearly expressed that he’ll oppose any relief given to Ranaut in the copyright case. On the other hand, the Thalaivi star with her brother Akshat Ranaut has filed a plea to quash the FIR registered against them in the copyright case in the Bombay High Court. Coming back to Akhtar, in his intervention petition, lawyers Vrinda Grover and Jay Bharadwaj had stated that Ranaut’s statement of no pending criminal cases in her passport renewal application was false and a criminal defamation case filed against her by the veteran lyricist was not taken into account. However, the court chose not to hear his side stating that if the bench allows him to intervene then they will receive thousands of similar requests. Since Ranaut is currently not in the country and is shooting somewhere else, she had sought exemption from appearing in court hearings. However, a Mumbai Magistrate Court has given her a ‘ last chance' to appear on the next date otherwise a bailable warrant will be issued against her.