The FIR against Javed Akhtar has been registered under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, an officer from Mulund police station said.
The Mumbai Police on October 4 registered an FIR against lyricist Javed Akhtar over his comments drawing similarities between the Taliban and Hindu hardliners.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Mulund police station based on a complaint filed by Santosh Dubey, a Mumbai-based lawyer.
Commenting on the development, the lawyer said: “I had earlier sent a legal notice to Akhtar and asked him to apologise over his remark, but he fail to do so. Now, an FIR has been registered against him on my complaint.”
“The FIR has been registered against Javed Akhtar under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (punishment for defamation),” an officer from Mulund police station said.
Dubey had in September sent a legal notice to Javed Akhtar, 76, for making “false and defamatory” remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) while giving an interview to a news channel. The lawyer had sought an apology from the noted lyricist for defaming the Hindutva fringe group by drawing a parallel between them and the Taliban.
The poet, lyricist and screenwriter had said that the right-wing all over the world has an uncanny similarity and added: “The Taliban want an Islamic country. These people want to make a Hindu Rashtra”.
In his legal notice, Dubey had claimed that by making such comments, Javed Akhtar had committed an offense under IPC Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).
A Thane court had earlier ordered issuance of a show-cause notice to Javed Akhtar on a defamation suit filed against him over his alleged remarks seeking to compare the RSS with the Taliban.
The suit, filed by RSS activist Vivek Champanerkar in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate and joint civil judge (senior division), sought Re 1 as compensation from Akhtar.(With PTI inputs)
