Mumbai, 28 Feb

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Friday settled through mediation the defamation case against her to bring to an end their four year long legal battle with the BJP MP also apologising for "inconvenience" caused to him.

According to the two separate orders of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate court, "the accused is acquitted" and the complaint is hereby "disposed as withdrawn".

Akhtar had filed a complaint against Ranaut in July 2020, alleging that she had defamed and damaged his 'immaculate reputation' by dragging his name into actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death during an interview with a news channel.

Ranaut had later filed a cross complaint against Akhtar, alleging criminal intimidation and insult to modesty.

In the mediation report submitted to the court on Friday, Ranaut said "the statements made by me in the interview dated 19 July, 2020 and thereafter were a result of misunderstanding." "I hereby unconditionally withdraw all the statements made by me....and I undertake not to repeat the same in future."

She further said, "I apologise for the inconvenience caused to Mr Javed Akhtar who is one one of the senior most members of the film fraternity and I have highest regards for him".

The actor withdrew the complaint against the noted lyricist.

Akhtar in his mediation report said, "In view of the statements made by Ms Kangana Ranaut, I agree to withdraw the complaint..."

After their court appearance, Ranaut posted a photo of herself standing gleefully with Akhtar, and said in the caption that the legal matter has been resolved and that the lyricist has agreed to write songs for her next film.

The duo appeared before the special court here on Friday and informed it of their decision to withdraw the complaints they had filed against each other.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate AK Awari accepted the statements and disposed of all the complaints filed by the duo against each other.

"The statements make it clear that the parties have settled the dispute before the mediator and want to withdraw the complaints. The same is accepted and the accused (Ranaut and Akhtar) are acquitted," the court said.

In her complaint, Ranaut had claimed that during her meeting with Akhtar at his residence in 2016, he criminally intimidated her, demanding that she apologise to a co-star.

Ranaut's lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee and Akhtar's advocate Jay Kumar Bhardwaj said the matter was settled through an hour-long mediation before the special magistrate court in Bandra.

"We were looking for mediation for a long time. We had exchanged drafts also. Finally we have resolved the case," Siddiquee said.

"There were no issues, only the wordings were to be decided, which was done today. We prepared the draft, signed it and both the cases were withdrawn today," he added.

The case was initially heard by a magistrate court in Andheri.

In 2024, after Ranaut was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, the matter was transferred to a special magistrate court designated for matters involving MPs and MLAs.

In his complaint, Akhtar claimed Ranaut dragged his name during an interview while referring to a 'coterie' existing in Bollywood, following the alleged suicide by actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

In her Instagram post, Ranaut said the cinema veteran was "kind and gracious" during the mediation process.

"Today, Javedji and I have resolved our legal matter (defamation case) through mediation. In the mediation Javed ji has been very kind and gracious, he also agreed to write songs for my next directorial," the BJP MP wrote in the caption.