Caveat Filed By Javed Akhtar In The Kangana Ranaut’s Transfer Plea

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, in an interview in Republic TV, a well-known news channel accused veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar to be a ‘part of a gang.’
• Pursuant to such allegation, the lyricist lodged a complaint of criminal defamation against the actress, pointing out that such remarks ‘maligned his repute.’
• The actress did not represent herself in the Court, despite two summons, during the proceeding.
• Recently the actress her sister moved the Supreme Court and filed a plea of transfer of all the pending proceedings from Mumbai to competent courts in Shimla.
• In response to such plea, Mr. Akhtar filed a Caveat in the Supreme Court of India.

INTRODUCTION

The controversial death of the widely loved actor Sushant Singh Rajput had stirred a lot of controversy in the Bollywood film industry related to issues of nepotism and worthy artists denied opportunities because of not belonging to the industry or lacking contacts.

One of the artists who made a lot of effort to speak openly about it and bring the matter to the awareness of the public was the actress Kangana Ranaut who appeared in several media interviews to voice her opinion, knowledge and experiences regarding such occurences in the industry.

On one such interview in the popular News Channel, Republic TV, headed by the well-known journalist Arnab Goswami, the actress commented on the well-known lyricist accusing him of being ‘part of a gang’ and went on to say that the lyricist had threatened her not to ‘open up about her alleged relationship with Hrithik Roshan.’

Post this incident, Javed Akhtar had been subject to a lot of social media trolling, bullying and harassment by netizens after which he lodged a complaint against the actress for ‘maligning his repute.’

Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel had filed a transfer plea in the Supreme Court in order to transfer all the pending proceedings to competent courts in Shimla from Mumbai, including the case filed against her by Mr. Akhtar.

In response to such transfer plea, Javed Akhtar, represented by Advocates Jay K. Bhardwaj and Nitish Massey, filed a Caveat in the Supreme Court, so that he be given a fair chance of being heard before the Court decides upon such plea.

BACKGROUND

A criminal defamation case was filed against the Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut by the renowned writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar after she passed some derogatory comments against the notable writer which subjected him to social media trolling and undermined his prestige and fame. Such case was filed under Sections 499 and Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate. The actress did not appear to represent herself in such Court despite being served two summons. The actress did not even file any exemption application for such absence. The Court issued a bailable warrant of Rs. 1000 against the actress due to her “wilful absence without any justified reasons despite service of summons.”

The Magistrate R. R. Khan, of the Court of Magistrate recognised the right of Kangana Ranawat to challenge the order of such Court in the Court of Sessions or the High Court, to which effect her lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui is likely to move the High Court in order to quash the proceedings of criminal defamation, lodged against her by Javed Akhtar.

The Magistrate had instructed the Juhu Police Station to investigate into the matter and produce a report before it.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

The actress Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel filed a transfer plea in the apex court and sought transfer of all the proceedings, to be initiated or to be continued, from Mumbai to competent court in Shimla. That includes the criminal defamation case lodged against her by Javed Akhtar due to her making ‘baseless and derogatory comments’ against him which maligned his repute.

Such transfer plea was sought in connection to the fact that the actress and her sister duo believe that their stay in Maharashtra would prove to be threatening to their life and property due to the ‘personal vendetta’ of the Shiv-Sena party against them.

The Maharashtra Government led by the Shiv-Sena party had earlier been known to demolish the Pali Hill Bungalow of Khar area in Mumbai, where the actress had her place of residence, alleging that it was an illegal construction, and irregularities were found not only at the floor where the actress resided but on other floors as well.

The Court had ruled such demolition to be an illegal activity on the part of Bombay Municipal Corporation.

Based on the earlier ‘harassment’ that the actress has had to face in the past due to the Shiv-Sena and the lack of cooperation from the Maharashtra Government and Administration to make good the loss suffered by her due to such hassle, the actress concluded that there might be a lack of safety and security if she stayed in Mumbai for the legal proceedings.

The actress has also referred to the comment ‘Haramkhor ladki’ made towards her by Shiv-Sena leader and Member of Parliament, Mr. Sanjay Raut.
Such a plea was filed by the actress by the Advocate Neeraj Shekhar in which she sought to transfer three cases to competent court of Shimla, from Mumbai. The three cases in question are,

1. Criminal defamation complaint filed by Javed Akhtar
2. Complaint because of Twitter by lawyer Ali Ashif Khan
3. FIR for tweets against the Maharashtra Government.

The transfer plea says “therefore it becomes quite evident that the petitioners face serious threat to life and property and if the trial of the cases is not transferred out of Mumbai, the petitioner’s life will be at risk.”

In relation to such a plea, the veteran writer-lyricist filed a Caveat in the Supreme Court, which if granted, the Courts cannot issue an order without adhering to the principles of Natural Justice like opportunity of being heard with respect to the Caveator.

A Caveat is a Notice given by a person, in which the Caveator (person filing the Caveat) is given a fair hearing informing the Court when another person who may have filed a suit or application against must be given a fair hearing before the Hon’ble Court decides any matter brought before it in the relevant case.

CONCLUSION

Javed Akhtar, represented by advocates Jay K Bhardwaj and Nitish Massey, sought Caveat from the Supreme Court by a plea in relation to the criminal defamation complaint registered against actress Kangana Ranaut. When the actress and her sister duo sought transfer of all pending proceedings from Mumbai to competent Courts of Shimla, the case of criminal defamation as had been registered by Javed Akhtar was also one of them.

As per the complaint, Ranaut had made certain baseless comments on Akhtar which has caused damage to the reputation of the veteran poet-lyricist. It added that Ranaut dragged Akhtar's name while referring to a "coterie" existing in Bollywood following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

She had also claimed that Akhtar had threatened her to not speak about her alleged relationship with actor Hrithik Roshan. All these statements made by Ranaut have garnered views in lakhs and thus tarnished Akhtar's reputation, Akhtar's complaint claimed. It also subjected him to social media trolling, bullying and harassment in various forms.