Kangana Ranaut summoned by Mumbai court for Javed Akhtar's defamation complaint

Actor Kangana Ranaut has been summoned by a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Mumbai on the basis of a complaint filed by lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar. The summon notice was issued on Monday after the city police informed the court that further probe was required into the alleged offence of defamation. Akhtar was also present in the court and lawyer Niranjan Mundergi presented arguments on his behalf. Thereafter, the Andheri court issued a process against Ranaut for offences under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to defamation. According to NDTV, Akhtar had filed the complaint of defamation against Ranaut in November last year, after which the Andheri metropolitan magistrate had directed the Juhu police to conduct an inquiry into the complaint in December, 2020. The police submitted its report on Monday that said the allegations are made out for further investigation. Magistrate RR Khan issued notices to the actor after going through the report. Ranaut is yet to respond to the summon. Ranaut can take two courses of action. She can either challenge the court’s order summoning her or appear before it and deny the charges made against her. As per the law, the court will then proceed with the trial accordingly and Akhtar can be called in to face cross-examination by Ranaut. Akhtar had said in his complaint to the court that Ranaut had appeared in an interview for a national media channel and said things that have damaged his reputation. Her defamatory statements were alleged to be a “clear campaign to malign and tarnish the reputation of the complainant [Akhtar] in the eyes of the general public”. The actor had mentioned Akhtar’s name while talking about the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, the lyricist alleged, saying she was giving her opinion on his death “without appearing to have any direct personal knowledge of the circumstances around his death”.