Bombay HC dismisses Kangana Ranaut’s plea seeking quashing of defamation case by Javed Akhtar

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court dismissed a plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking quashing of criminal defamation proceedings initiated by a Magistrate Court against her following a complaint by lyricist Javed Akhtar in 2020 on Thursday.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere, who had on September 1 reserved her order on the plea, said the applicant’s (Ranaut’s) petition “stands dismissed”.

Akhtar had filed the criminal complaint against 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 Akhtar’s complaint against Ranaut and then initiated criminal proceedings against her, and issued summons to her in February this year.