Javed Akhtar has been asked to appear in a Mumbai court on August 5. He may also be charged with activities meant to offend a woman’s modesty.
Kangana Ranaut’s counter-complaint for alleged “extortion and criminal intimidation” against lyricist Javed Akhtar has been summoned to appear before a Mumbai court. According to a PTI report, the court stated in summons him to appear on August 5 that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against him for the offenses of criminal intimidation and gestures or acts meant to offend the modesty of a woman.
In 2020, Javed filed a complaint against Kangana after she accused him of threatening her in an interview after calling her to his house during her violent dispute with Hrithik Roshan over their supposed affair. Kangana responded by filing a counter-complaint against Javed Akhtar.
What the court stated
On July 24, Metropolitan Magistrate (Andheri court) R M Shaikh issued a summons to Javed Akhtar, ordering him to appear in court on August 5. The court stated in its summons that no evidence of extortion was made established against the lyricist. It stated that requesting a written apology does not fall under the concept of “valuable security” as described in section 30 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) because no legal right is established, extended, transferred, restricted, extinguished, or discharged.
“As for the other charges leveled against the accused, they are based on averments in the complaint, verification of the complainant, and statement of her (Kangana’s) sister Rangoli Chandel,” the court added. “I have concluded that there are adequate grounds to proceed against the accused for an offence under IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (gestures or acts intended to offend a woman’s modesty”),” the court noted.
More about the case
Following the reported death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Javed filed a case in 2020 alleging that Kangana dragged his name during an interview while referring to a ‘coterie’ in Bollywood.
Kangana then filed a counter-complaint against Javed in the same court, alleging “extortion and criminal intimidation.” In her case, she claimed that after her public spat with her Krrish 3 co-star, the lyricist summoned her and her sister Rangoli to his home with “malafide intentions and ulterior motives, and then criminally intimidated and threatened” her.
