Plea Dismissed! No Quashing Of Defamation Case Against Kangana Ranaut, Says HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea by actor Kangana Ranaut to quash criminal defamation proceedings initiated against her by a Mumbai court based on a complaint by veteran lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere, who had earlier reserved her order on the plea on September 1, on Thursday said the applicant’s (Kangana’s) petition “stands dismissed”.

Case History

Akhtar had filed the criminal complaint against Kangana in November last year at the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate court. He had charhed the actress of making defamatory and baseless comments against him in a TV interview given to journalist Arnab Goswami.

In December 2020, the court directed the Juhu police to conduct an inquiry into the complaint against Kangana and then initiated criminal proceedings against her, and issued summons to her in February this year.

Kangana, through her counsel Rizwan Siddiquee, had challenged the defamation proceedings that were initiated by the magistrate’s court, saying it had failed to apply its mind to the case.

Akhtar’s counsel Jay Bharadwaj, however, told the High Court that the magistrate had directed for the police inquiry after going through the lyricist’s complaint and excerpts of Kangana’s interview, in which she had made the alleged defamatory comments.