Kangana Ranaut to appear before the court next week after 1.5 years of dodging summons in Javed Akhtar defamation case

  Actor Kangana Ranaut will appear before a metropolitan magistrate court here on July 4 in connection with a defamation complaint filed against her by Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar .

As the matter came up for hearing before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's court on Monday, her lawyer sought an exemption from the actor's personal appearance for the day.

The court then directed Ranaut's legal team to file Pursis (written statement /information given to the court pertaining to any matter pending before it), stating that the accused will remain present on the next date of hearing (July 4). 

The court granted an exemption for the day after the Pursis was filed by Ranaut's lawyer. 

The court also reserved the hearing on a plea seeking the issuance of a warrant against Ranaut till the next hearing.

Akhtar (76) had filed the complaint in court in November 2020, claiming that Ranaut had made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation.

In his complaint, Akhtar claimed that Ranaut dragged his name during the interview while referring to a 'coterie' existing in Bollywood, following the alleged suicide by actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year.