Mumbai, Feb 28 (PTI) Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Friday settled through mediation a defamation dispute between them after a nearly five-year-long legal battle, with the BJP MP apologising for the “inconvenience” caused to the screenwriter.
Ranaut unconditionally withdrew the alleged defamatory statements made by her against Akhtar and undertook to never repeat the same in future.
A special court here accepted the same and disposed of the complaints and acquitted the duo.
After their court appearance, Ranaut posted a photo of herself standing gleefully with Akhtar, and said in the caption that the legal matter has been resolved and that the lyricist has agreed to write songs for her next film.
Akhtar had filed a complaint against Ranaut in 2020, alleging that she had defamed and damaged his ‘immaculate reputation’ by dragging his name into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in an interview with a news channel in July that year.
Ranaut had later filed a cross complaint against Akhtar, alleging criminal intimidation and insult to modesty.
The duo appeared before the special court here on Friday and informed it of their decision to withdraw the complaints they had filed against each other.
In the statement submitted to the court, Ranaut said the statements made by her in the interview were a “result of a misunderstanding”.
“I hereby unconditionally withdraw all the statements made by me in the interview and thereafter I undertake not to repeat the same in future. I apologise for the inconvenience caused to Javed Akhtar who is one of the most senior members of the film fraternity and I have the highest regard for him,” she said.
Akhtar, too, submitted his statement that in view of Ranaut’s statement, he withdrew the complaint filed by him against her.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Awari accepted the statements and disposed of all the complaints filed by the duo against each other.
“The statements make it clear that the parties have settled the dispute before the mediator and want to withdraw the complaints,” the court said.
The same is accepted and the accused (Ranaut and Akhtar) are acquitted, the court added.
In her complaint, Ranaut had claimed that during her meeting with Akhtar at his residence in 2016, he criminally intimidated her, demanding that she apologise to a co-star.
Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee and Akhtar’s advocate Jay Kumar Bhardwaj said the matter was settled through an hour-long mediation before the special magistrate court in Bandra.
“We were looking for mediation for a long time. We had exchanged drafts also. Finally we have resolved the case,” Siddiquee said.
“There were no issues, only the wordings were to be decided, which was done today. We prepared the draft, signed it and both the cases were withdrawn today,” he added.
The case was initially heard by a magistrate court in Andheri.
In 2024, after she was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, the matter was transferred to a special magistrate court designated for matters involving MPs and MLAs.
In his complaint, Akhtar claimed that Ranaut dragged his name during an interview while referring to a ‘coterie’ existing in Bollywood, following the alleged suicide by actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
In her Instagram post, Ranaut said the cinema veteran was “kind and gracious” during the mediation process.
“Today, Javedji and I have resolved our legal matter (defamation case) through mediation. In the mediation Javed ji has been very kind and gracious, he also agreed to write songs for my next directorial,” the BJP MP wrote in the caption. PTI AVI SP RB BK NP
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