Javed Akhtar, a veteran lyricist, has moved to a sessions court in suburban Dindoshi to challenge the summons issued against him by a magistrate in a case filed by actor Kangana Ranaut.
He says that the order was passed in an inappropriate and hasty manner, resulting in a “grave miscarriage of justice”.
The matter will be heard on August 8 by the sessions court.
The summons was issued by metropolitan magistrate (Andheri court) R M Shaikh on July 24, asking Mr Akhtar to appear before the court on August 5.
The magistrate dismissed the extortion charges against Mr Akhtar but said there is enough ground to proceed against him for criminal intimidation.
Mr Akhtar’s plea, filed through advocate Jay Bharadwaj, said that the order (for issuing summons) was passed “erroneously” as it contradicted the established law and facts.
The plea said that the magistrate did not examine the case properly and reached conclusions in an “inappropriate and hasty manner” which led to a “grave miscarriage of justice”.
The plea also said that there was nothing on judicial record that showed that there was sufficient material available with the magistrate for passing the impugned order.
“The magistrate just went ahead with the baseless allegations made in the complaint without verifying the overall factual situation and the judicial record,” it said.
The plea also said that the magistrate did not give any reasons for issuing a summons against the petitioner.
The magistrate court only relied on the verification statement of the complainant (Ranaut) and witnesses, the petition said, claiming “this clearly shows lack of application of judicial mind.”
The plea also said that the magistrate did not consider that serious prejudice would be caused to the rights of the petitioner if he had to face trial in a time-barred matter, where none of the sections alleged in the complaint applied.
Mr Akhtar (76) filed the complaint in 2020, claiming Ms Ranaut made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly harmed his reputation.
In his complaint, Mr Akhtar claimed Ms Ranaut dragged his name during an interview while referring to a ‘coterie’ existing in Bollywood, following the alleged death by suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Ms Ranaut later filed a counter-complaint in the same court against Mr Akhtar for alleged “extortion and criminal intimidation”.
The actor in her complaint against Mr Akhtar said that after her public dispute with her co-star, the lyricist had called her and her sister Rangoli Chandel to his house with “malafide intentions and ulterior motives and then criminally intimidated and threatened” her.