Court exempts veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar from appearance for a day in RSS remarks case

A Court granted exemption from personal appearance for a day to veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar in a defamation case filed by a lawyer over his alleged remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during a television interview.

The lawyer, Santosh Dubey, had in October 2021, filed a complaint against the 77-year-old lyricist-poet before the metropolitan magistrate court at suburban Mulund under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The metropolitan magistrate court, Mulund, had issued summons to Akhtar in December last year and had directed him to appear before it on February 6. As the matter came up for hearing before the court on Monday, Akthar’s lawyer filed a plea seeking exemption from personal appearance.

Akhtar, in the TV interview, had allegedly drawn parallels between the Taliban and Hindu extremists in the backdrop of the radical outfit seizing power in Afghanistan.