A Court in Mumbai court has rejected the plea filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar that challenged the order by the Magistrate for summoning him in a criminal defamation complaint for his alleged remarks comparing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to the Taliban.
The plea was rejected by the Sessions judge Priti Kumar Ghule who ruled that the order passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate at Mulund summoning Akhtar, was legally sound.
The detailed copy of the order is awaited and would be made available soon.
Summons were issued to the lyricist by the Magistrate in a criminal complaint filed by a lawyer, Santosh Dubey in October 2021, under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On December 13, 2022, Akhtar had summoned after the Magistrate had recorded the statement of complainant and two witnesses under Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
A revision plea was filed through advocate Jay K Bharadwaj on the ground that process had been issued without conducting any enquiry as stipulated under CrPC.
In his complaint, Akhtar had claimed that the complainant had failed to show his locus to file such complaint.
As per the plea also pointed out that the order by the Magistrate was mechanical in nature and passed in haste without considering the circumstances in which the the statements were made.