Actor and self-claimed film critic Kamaal R Khan approached the Bombay High Court (HC) on Thursday, seeking to quash a June 23 order by the city civil court on a defamation suit filed by actor Salman Khan. Kamaal, also known as KRK, had made some comments on the film Radhe.
The court then restrained him from making any comments on Salman, his movies and companies. However, KRK claimed that he or any viewer cannot be restrained from expressing opinions about a film or its characters. After hearing his plea, Justice Ajey Gadkari issued notices to Salman and his company Salman Khan Ventures Private Limited, and several social media intermediaries. However, Salman and his company’s counsel DSK Legal informed the HC that they received KRK’s request on Wednesday night and so they needed time.
The city civil court had issued a restraining order on KRK under which he was not allowed to upload, share or post comments or tweets about Salman until the final order was pronounced in the defamation case. To this, KRK said that such an order is termed as a gag order which is illegal.
In his appeal, filed through advocate Manoj Gadkari, KRK has claimed that he is a film critic and had fairly criticized the film Radhe in which Salman, “who is a 55-year-old, was acting like a teenager”.
Besides, the lower court’s restraining order breached his fundamental right to practice his trade, which is that of a film critic, and thus prevented him from earning his rightful livelihood, claimed KRK.
He has claimed in his appeal that he had not made any comments or posted his videos and tweets with the intention of defaming Salman Khan or his films.
His plea stated, “The lower court should not have failed to keep in mind that a viewer of a film cannot be stopped from making any comments on the film or the characters in the film, or whether the actors in the film are hit or flop.”
The case will come up for hearing after two weeks.
