Javed Akhtar summoned by magistrate court of Mumbai over Kangana Ranaut's complaint of criminal intimidation

Veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar has been summoned by a magistrate court of Mumbai over actor Kangana Ranaut’s complaint. The complaint was filed by the actress against the veteran writer and lyricist under section 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insult to the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. Akhtar is asked to appear before the Andheri court on August 5. What happened? Back in 2020, Akhtar filed a criminal complaint against Kangana Ranaut in a local court for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in television interviews. Akhtar filed the complaint before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, seeking action against Ranaut under the relevant provisions of the IPC for defamation. As per the complaint, Ranaut had recently made certain baseless comments on Akhtar which has caused damage to the reputation of the veteran poet-lyricist. Ranaut dragged Akhtar’s name while referring to a “coterie” existing in Bollywood following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June that year. She had also claimed that Akhtar had threatened her to not speak about her alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan, it said. In 2021, Ranaut also moved a counter complaint in the court against Akhtar for alleged “extortion and criminal intimidation”, and her lawyer informed the court that they had filed an application before chief metropolitan magistrate, seeking transfer of hearing into the complaint to another court. The actor in her complaint said following her public dispute with a co-star, Akhtar had called her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with “malafide intentions and ulterior motives and then criminally intimidated and threatened” her. “The words that were used by the accused (Akhtar) were ‘‘if you do not say sorry to Hrithik Roshan, you will have to commit suicide because they will put you in jail. They have found all clues and evidence and they know that the case is completely in their hands’’,” the complaint said.