Kangana Ranaut to appear before Mumbai court on July 4 in Javed Akhtar's defamation case

Kangana Ranaut on Monday sought an exemption from appearing in the hearing of Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar's petition against her before the Andheri Magistrate Court.Following this, Akhtar's lawyer, Jay Bharadwaj, urged that a non-bailable warrant be issued against the Bollywood actress for not appearing in court on multiple occasions. However, her advocate Rizwan Siddiquee appeared for the actress and reportedly stated that she would be appearing before the court on July 4. The case will now be heard on July 4 at 4 pm.

According to reports, Kangana has also sought that no media be present when the Magistrate records her statement.This case dates back to 2020, when Javed Akhtar had filed a defamation complaint against Kangana. After Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise in June 2020, Kangana Ranaut had allegedly said in an interview that the noted lyricist belonged to the "suicide gang" of Bollywood, who had pushed "outsiders" like her to end their life. Soon after, Javed Akhtar filed a defamation complaint against Kangana at the Magistrate court.Kangana too has filed a new extortion complaint against Akhtar, which the court will hear only after Ranaut appears in court and gives her statement.