Javed Akhtar moves HC against misleading statement by Kangana Ranaut for renewing passport
Writer, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar has moved an intervention application before the Bombay high court (HC) in the petition filed by actor Kangana Ranaut, alleging that the actor deliberately misled the court and got an assurance from the Passport Authority of India for expediting her passport renewal application
Writer, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar has moved an intervention application before the Bombay high court (HC) in the petition filed by actor Kangana Ranaut, alleging that the actor deliberately misled the court and got an assurance from the Passport Authority of India for expediting her passport renewal application.
Akhtar stated that though the HC had asked Ranaut if any criminal proceedings were pending against her before any court, the actor said there were no pending criminal proceedings against her pertaining to the two cases filed against her in the sedition and copyright violation case but did not mention the defamation case filed by him against the actor which is pending before the magistrate court.
The application is expected to come up for hearing next week.
The intervention application filed by Akhtar on July 1 through advocate Jay Bharadwaj stated that a defamation case against the actor was filed by Akhtar in November 2020 for making malicious, false and defamatory remarks against him in a television interview after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and the magistrate had directed the police to investigate the complaint by Akhtar.
It further states that the magistrate had issued a bailable warrant against the actor on March 1, wherein she got bail on March 25 but the case is still pending.
Referring to the hearing of Ranaut’s plea for renewal of her passport in HC on June 28, Akhtar’s application stated that the actor when asked a specific question on pendency of any criminal case pending against her in any court, Ranaut had deliberately not divulged the pendency of the case titled Javed Akhtar vs Kangana Ranaut in the magistrate court.
On June 28, when the Ranaut’s interim application for renewal of her passport was heard by the division bench of justice SS Shinde and justice Revati Mohite-Dere, the Passport Authority had said that if Ranaut made a statement that there was no pending criminal proceeding against her, it would expedite her application. Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, representing the actor, had given a statement that no criminal proceedings were pending in any court against Ranaut in the two cases filed against her in the Bandra and Khar police stations.
Ranaut had moved the interim application in her petitions challenging the two first information reports (FIR), claiming that renewal of her passport which was due to expire in September was being delayed due to police complaints against her. Following this statement, her passport was renewed the next.
Akhtar said Ranaut’s counsel had limited the statement to the criminal proceedings arising out of two FIRs and did not mention about pending criminal defamation case against her, and therefore his petition was required to be heard by the HC.
Earlier in February, Dindoshi sessions court had dismissed Ranaut’s appeal against the order by the magistrate court which had issued process against her based on Akhtar’s defamation complaint.