New Delhi: A Mumbai court on Monday issued a bailable warrant against actress Kangana Ranaut for not appearing in a defamation case filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar. The Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate court issued summons to Ranaut on February 1 and directed him to appear before the court on March 1. After Kangana Ranaut did not appear in court on Monday, Magistrate RR Khan issued a bailable warrant against the actress and listed the matter for hearing on 26 March. Earlier, the lower court had stated that the date of March 22 has been fixed for further hearing of the case. Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui had argued in the court that the summons against the actress were issued without following the proper procedure of the law and hence it is ‘against the law’. Siddiqui said that the procedure followed by the magistrate will be challenged in the Bombay High Court.
At the same time, Javed Akhtar’s lawyer Vrinda Grover argued that even if the process is challenged in view of not stopping the summons of any high court, Ranaut will have to appear as per the instructions of the court. The lawyer argued, ‘It is the right of the accused to appeal against the order or challenge the process, no one can deny it and no one can stop him from doing so … Not even this delay. Kagna Ranaut has failed to follow the order of this court and no high court has even stayed the summons.
