A sessions court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar against an order of a magistrate summoning him on an RSS supporter’s complaint for comparing the right wing outfit and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad with the Taliban in a TV appearance.
𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗔𝗸𝗵𝘁𝗮𝗿
A detailed order is yet to be made available. In his plea, Akhtar contended that mere expression of opinion cannot amount to commission of an offence. On Dec 13 last year, the Mulund court had issued a summons to the lyricist. The complainant had alleged he committed offence under Sec 499 (defamation) punishable under Sec 500.
Akhtar had claimed in his plea that the complainant had not proved his locus standi in the matter to file the complaint on behalf of RSS. It stated that the magistrate had jumped to conclusions in the matter in a hasty manner without applying judicial mind. The plea said summoning the accused is a serious matter and should not be done in a mechanical manner.
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁'𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗹𝗹-𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱: 𝗝𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗸𝗵𝘁𝗮𝗿
Akhtar said further that the entire litigation by the complainant was ill-motivated and to gain “reflective glory”. It also pointed out that in his legal notice, the complainant had sought Rs100 crore in damages.
The complainant, an advocate, had said in his plea before the Mulund magistrate that he came across the TV interview and said he was “shocked” that a banned organisation like the Taliban was compared to a “patriotic” organisation like RSS. He said further that it was a well-planned defamatory statement to discourage people who have joined or plan to join it.
