Show cause notice to Javed Akhtar in Re 1 defamation suit over RSS Taliban remarks : Thane Court, Mumbai

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A Thane Court (Mumbai) on Monday issued a show cause notice to lyricist Javed Akhtar after a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Vivek Champanerkar filed a defamation suit against him for his alleged comparison of RSS and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) with the Taliban.

A civil defamation suit has been filed by the RSS activist through Advocate Aditya Mishra and Advocate Swapnil Kale at Thane civil court. Javed Akhtar has to appear before the court on November 12.

In the plea filed by the RSS worker, he has prayed Rupee 1 as compensation from Akhtar,

"the defendant's defamatory statement to tarnish the image of plaintiff's organisation and hence he is in loss of rupee one for which the defendant is liable to compensate him."

In the petition, Champanerkar stated that the statements made by the Akhtar were aimed at belittling the RSS's image in the eyes of the common public.

Advocate Aditya Mishra, argued in the court and claimed the defendant (Akhtar) had made "derogatory" remarks against the RSS while appearing in a show of a private news channel.

He also stated that the defendant's remarks "drawing a parallel between barbaric Taliban and organisations working for the Hindu cause" were aimed at vilifying such outfits.

"The defendant uttered unfounded, false and baseless allegations against the organisation of plaintiff in the said show," he added.