The Mumbai court has given a final warning to Bollywood actress and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut to appear in the ongoing defamation case filed by veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar. If she fails to attend the next hearing, the court may issue a non-bailable warrant against her.
Mumbai Court’s Stern Warning
Today, Kangana Ranaut was supposed to appear in the mediation meeting as part of defamation case proceedings. As a result, the Bandra court made her appear there one last time before taking tough legal action against her.
Her lawyer Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee has told the court that she can’t come in as the Parliament sessions are ongoing. However, Javed Akhtar’s lawyers argued that the actress has skipped court hearings on multiple occasions and has missed nearly 40 scheduled dates. In this regard, Akhtar’s counsel requested the court to issue a non-bailable warrant so that she would be present in future hearings.
Kangana-Javed Defamation Case Details
The legal battle between Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar started in 2020 after Ranaut made contentious comments against the lyricist in a televised interview. She claimed that Akhtar had forced her to apologize to actor Hrithik Roshan during their high profiled feud. According to Ranaut, Akhtar allegedly said, “Tujhe suicide karni padegi” which means that she had no other choice but to apologize.
Javed Akhtar claimed the allegations false and filed a defamation case against Ranaut for maliciously defaming him. Counter to this, Ranaut filed a counter-complaint against Akhtar. This was almost after four long years of battles in the courts where parties agreed to seek the mediation process.
The first mediation session was scheduled for Tuesday, but the absence of Ranaut has further complicated the matter. The court, which just issued a final warning, will be a crucial one for determining whether the case proceeds to a more serious action of legal process against Kangana Ranaut.
