The Patiala House Court will now hear the criminal defamation case filed by Bollywood actor Nora Fatehi against fellow actor Jacqueline Fernandes on March 25.
The matter was to be taken up by Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Gupta, but due to his non-availability today, the hearing on the matter could not be held on Saturday.
Earlier on December 19 last year, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) at Patiala House Court had transferred the defamation case to the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Kapil Gupta, who listed it for hearing on January 21.
On December 12, Nora had moved the Patiala House Court against Jacqueline, alleging that Fernandez levelled serious allegations against her with a ‘malicious’ intention to destroy her career.
The petition alleged that Jacqueline attempted to ‘criminally defame’ Nora, in order to destroy her career and further her own interests, since they were both working in the same industry and had similar backgrounds.
The actors had been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case lodged against conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
The petition further noted that Jacqueline, in her written pleading before the PMLA court, had submitted that she was being ‘falsely’ implicated by the ED, while ‘celebs’ such as Nora Fatehi, who had also received gifts from conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, ‘had been made witnesses’.
Refuting the allegations, Nora said that she had nothing to do with the matter. She claimed that she had no contact directly with Chandrashekhar, but only through his wife Lena Maria Paul. The actor further denied receiving any gifts from the conman.
Nora added in her plea that since she and Jacqueline were actresses of foreign origin and have had their share of struggles in rising to fame in the Indian film industry, hence, it was evident that Jacqueline dragging her name in a case where she (Nora) had no business, spoke about the ‘mala fide’ nature of the allegations.
The petition by Nora also mentioned several media houses. The actor claimed that her ‘collective hounding’ by various media houses was akin to ‘mob lynching’. She further alleged that it was done at the ‘behest’ of Jacqueline.