Kangana Ranaut, who is currently embroiled in a legal battle with lyricist Javed Akhtar, was granted an exemption by the 10th Metropolitan Magistrate court in Mumbai after her legal representative cited sickness as the reason for her absence at the hearing. Akhtar is pursuing a criminal defamation case against her. As reported by Pinkvilla, Rizwaan Siddiquee, the actress’ lawyer, stated that her plea can be recorded by her lawyer and her presence was not needed.
The Manikarnika actress had previously approached the Bombay High Court seeking dismissal of all proceedings against her.
Siddique, reportedly, also filed an appeal to quash the proceedings against her. He claimed that the Andheri metropolitan magistrate’s court did not assess witnesses independently. Moreover, they initiated proceedings solely based on the police’s report.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai Court on Tuesday, January 4, rejected Akhtar’s demand for issuance of a non-bailable warrant against her, informed his lawyer Jay Bhardwaj. Speaking to ANI, he said, “The court rejected the demand for issuance of a non-bailable warrant. The next hearing will be on February 1 at Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate.”
Akhtar (76) had filed a complaint in the Andheri court in November 2022, claiming that Ranaut had made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation.
He had claimed that the Queen actress was speaking on the circumstances related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in the interview in June 2020. Kangana had meanwhile described him as part of the ‘suicide gang.’
Akhtar had filed a complaint against Kangana Ranaut under Section 499 (Defamation) and Section 500 (Defamation Punishment) of the IPC.
Talking about the work front, Kangana recently completed shooting for her upcoming film Tejas. She will soon be seen in films like Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda, Emergency, Dhakad and The Incarnation: Sita. Kangana is also producing the upcoming dark comedy Tiku Weds Sheru under her production house Manikarnika Films.
