Mumbai: Actor Kangana Ranaut and her brother have moved Bombay High Court challenging an FIR by Mumbai Police for an alleged copyright violation case filed by Ashish Kaul, author of ‘Didda: The Warrior Queen Of Kashmir’.

In January, Ranaut had tweeted about her next production, ‘Manikarnika Returns: The Legend Of Didda’, based on the story of the Queen of Kashmir who defeated Mehmood Ghaznavi twice. Her lawyer, Rizwan Siddiquee, said there was “no film made, hence no copyright infringement offence committed. It is only because she announced that the film will be made the FIR was registered under the Copyright Act’’.

Siddiquee said the actor's fundamental rights are at stake, “why should she participate in the investigation?” Her petition said police registered an FIR following an order under section 156(3) of CrPC by a magistrate in March 2021. The FIR was based on “mere conjectures, speculation and surmises”.

After state government counsel gave an oral assurance of not taking coercive steps, including arrest against the petitioners till next hearing, HC said it will hear the plea on June 28. HC will also hear a plea by Ranaut, booked by Bandra police in a case alleging an offence of sedition along with her sister Rangoli, seeking directions to the authorities to renew her passport to enable her to go abroad for shooting of a film. 

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Citing work commitments across the country, actor Kangana Ranaut sought permanent exemption from appearance before court in a defamation case against her by veteran Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar. She said attending trial regularly will require her to travel miles from various locations to Mumbai, causing her undue hardship, and she and production houses will incur huge financial losses. “The applicant declares her non-appearance shall not come in the way of proceedings with trial,” the plea by advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said.