Kangana Ranaut & Javed Akhtar legal Battle: HC reserves order on actress' plea in defamation case

Kangana Ranaut and Javed Akhtar's legal battle continues. It all started after the actress spoke about Akhtar during a television interview that he thought was defamatory. Now in a recent update, Bombay High Court on September 01 reserved its order on a plea filed by Kangana seeking quashing of criminal defamation proceedings initiated against her by a metropolitan magistrate's court in the city on a complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar.

Defamation case:

The 'Queen' actor's counsel Rizwan Siddiquee, had argued that the magistrate had not followed proper procedure and had initiated the proceedings solely on Akhtar's complaint without hearing her side. According to a report in Times of India, Ranaut had said in her plea the lower court did not independently examine the complainant or witnesses named in the complaint against her, but it instead relied merely upon the discretion of the Juhu police and initiated the case against her. On September 01, Siddiquee reportedly told a single bench presided over by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere that the police inquiry into Akhtar's complaint was "one-sided." "My witnesses were never examined. The magistrate should have ensured that no party is harassed," Siddiquee told the HC.

However, Akhtar's counsel Jay Bharadwaj reportedly told the bench that the magistrate had ordered the police inquiry after going through Akhtar's complaint and excerpts of the interview and police had summoned witnesses and concerned persons, including Ranaut, to ensure its inquiry was impartial, however, the actor never responded to the summons.

The high court is likely to pass an order on Ranaut's plea on September 9.

Stay tuned with the newstrack to get fastest updates. Click @englishnewstrack to follow us on Facebook and @newstrackmedia to follow on Twitter.