Kangana Ranaut approaches High Court seeking stay on Javed Akhtar's defamation case appeal

Kangana Ranaut has petitioned the Bombay High Court for a stay of proceedings stemming from lyricist Javed Akhtar's defamation complaint against her. On January 9, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande is expected to hear the plea. Javed Akhtar filed the complaint against Kangana Ranaut after taking issue with some of her comments in an interview that aired on Republic TV.

The complaint, charges

Kangana filed a cross-complaint against Javed, accusing him of criminal conspiracy, extortion, and insulting her modesty by violating her privacy. On July 24, 2023, a magistrate court in Andheri dismissed the extortion case against Akhtar but summoned him to appear in court for the charges under Sections 506 and 509 of the IPC. 

Javed Akhtar filed a revision petition with the Dindoshi Sessions Court, appealing the summons order. The order and criminal proceedings stemming from Ranaut's complaint were stayed by the sessions court until Javed Akhtar's revision plea was eventually heard.

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How it all started

Javed Akhtar filed a complaint against Kangana in a local court in 2020 for allegedly making defamatory and false comments about him in television interviews. The 78-year-old actor filed the complaint with the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate, demanding action against Kangana for defamation under the relevant provisions of the IPC.

According to the complaint, Kangana made slanderous remarks against Javed that harmed the senior poet-lyricist's reputation. The 36-year-old actress invoked Javed Akhtar's name while referring to a "coterie" that exists in Bollywood since the murder of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020. 

• High Court of Bombay
• Javed Akhtar
• Kangana Ranaut
• Kangana Ranaut defamation case
• Javed Akhtar defamation case