Actress Kangana Ranaut’s second request to transfer the defamation case filed against her by lyricist Javed Akhtar from the 10th court in Andheri to any other metropolitan magistrate was refused on Thursday by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate ST Dande.
Judge Dande announced his decision on Thursday after deferring it a day after hearing from lyricist Javed Akhtar’s lawyer, Jay Bhardwaj. The actor remained silent in the aftermath of the decision.
Kangana Ranaut told judge Dhande in her plea that she didn’t trust the 10th court in Andheri, which was hearing Akhtar’s allegation against her. Ranaut’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddique, claimed that the 10th court magistrate insisted on her personal appearance without providing an adequate explanation or issuing an order that may have justified requiring her to appear in a case involving a bailable, non-cognizable, and compoundable offence.
“This court is threatening the accused on every date of issuing an arrest warrant without giving any sufficient cause,” her application said.
Kangana Ranaut’s counsel said that Javed Akhtar’s plea was solely meant to prolong the proceedings. According to his response, the grounds cited in the current application were raised for the first time after Kangana was summoned for more than 7 months with the sole goal of delaying the matter.
Last November, Akhtar filed a defamation suit against Kangana Ranaut, alleging that she made defamatory and false remarks about him in a television interview.
The actress claims in a counter-complaint that after her feud with co-star Hrithik Roshan, Akthar summoned her and her sister to his Juhu home with “mala fide intents and ulterior objectives.” She went on to say that Akhtar phoned her and her sister under the guise of acting as a mediator, but actually threatened her and pushed her to write a letter of apology to Roshan, thereby attempting to produce a document in a favor of her co-star.
