Big setback! Bombay HC dismisses Kangana Ranaut’s plea for quashing defamation case by Javed Akhtar

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking quashing of the criminal defamation case field against in a local court by lyricist Javed Akhtar for tarnishing his image in the eyes of public.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere in her order which was reserved on September 1 reserved, said the applicant's (Kangana Ranaut's) petition "stands dismissed".

Ranaut, had challenged the defamation proceedings against her that were initiated by the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate's court earlier this year, saying that the court had failed to apply its mind to the case while directing the police to investigate the case.

Opposing the petition, Akhtar said the magistrate had directed for the police inquiry after going through the lyricist's complaint and excerpts of Kangana Ranaut's interview, in which she had made the alleged defamatory comments.

Notably, Javed Akhtar had filed the criminal complaint against Kangana Ranaut in November last year before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate for allegedly making defamatory and baseless comments against him in a television interview given to journalist Arnab Goswami.

In December 2020, the court directed the Juhu police to conduct an inquiry into Javed Akhtar's complaint against Kangana Ranaut and then initiated criminal proceedings against her, and issued summons to her in February this year. (UNI)