Mumbai: In a detailed order rejecting actor Kangana Ranaut’s plea for transfer of veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar’s defamation complaint against her from the magistrate currently hearing the case, a sessions court observed that giving oral directions in the presence of media doesn’t mean that it is a threat. The court said that there is no material to conclude that the magistrate was dealing with the matter without fairness and had any biases against Ranaut.

Among the grounds, Ranaut’s lawyer submitted that on two different occasions the magistrate threaten ed to issue an ‘arrest warrant’ against her in presence of media personnel to secure her appearance before the court. Her lawyer further submitted that the “open threats” had been captured by various media personnel on both occasions, while the court had noted it in the roznama only on one.

The court observed, “It is to be noted that both applicant [Ranaut] and respondent [Akhtar] are celebrities. Nowadays, we know whenever any proceeding against any celebrity has been filed in court of law or in any police station, several mediapersons used to collect the news for their media house,” the court said. 

“It is a general practice that court gives sometimes oral directions, it does not mean it is a threat,” the court added.

The court also rejected Ranaut’s plea to transfer her counter complaint against Akhtar to another magistrate.

The court further said that the central criterion to consider when application for transfer is made is not hypersensitivity. It said that mere allegation that there is apprehension that justice will not be done in the case, alone does not suffice.

“In absence of any material demonstrating the apprehension that justice will not be done, without any bias, such application for transfer cannot be entertained. Therefore, while assurance of fair trial needs to be respected, plea for transfer of case should not be entertained on mere apprehension,” the court said.