Lyricist Javed Akhtar filed a criminal defamation case against actress Kangana Ranaut on November 3, 2020 before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate for allegedly making baseless comments during an interview with Republic TV, said LiveLaw.
According to the complaint, Ranaut alleged Akhtar’s involvement in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. She also named him and Mahesh Bhatt as members of a “mafia” that ran the Hindi film industry. Further, she called the veteran poet a “so-called atheist.”
“Their [Akhtar and others] whole group is about keeping an eye on who is Islam friendly and who is not Islam friendly,” she said during the TV interview.
During the interview, the actress also claimed that Akhtar threatened Ranaut from talking about her alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan. The recording of this interview has been viewed by millions of people on YouTube which is damaging to the lyricist’s reputation, said the complaint filed by advocate Naranjan Murangi.
The defamation case, set to be heard on December 3, is not the first legal complaint filed against the actress. Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh approached the Magistrate in late-October against the Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for allegedly tweeting promoting Hindu-Muslim disharmony and making malicious comments against the judiciary. The court accordingly directed an inquiry against the two persons. Similarly, casting director Sahil Ashrafali Sayyed complained against her and Chandel on October 17 for promoting communal enmity.
The actress faced an FIR issued by the Karnataka court for allegedly tweeting against farmers protesting the controversial central farm laws.
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