Recently a news item was brought to my notice that eminent lyricist Javed Akhtar ji had been acquitted by the Mulund Court in Mumbai on defamation charges against RSS. The case was filed by a green horn advocate Santosh Ramswaroop Dubey as the aggrieved party. On further enquiry and getting a copy of the judgment from Santosh Ramswaroop Pandey, himself, I found that the case had been withdrawn by the complainant after a mediation committee was formed at the request of Javed Akhtar. It was acceptance of a plea under mediation. Though technically it was called acquittal but it was not an acquittal based on any arguments in the court.
The mediation report clearly says, “Both parties have amicably settled the matter.”
For the sake of brevity, I will not quote the judgement verbatim, but only the highlights.
During the mediation on November 5, 2024, Javed explained his point of view vis-à-vis his alleged defamatory statement. Point 3 of the mediation report says, “The Accused Javed Akhtar also confirmed and assured that he never had or has any intention to make any statement that may hurt the feelings and sentiments of complainant and his Association/ organisation/ RSS. The next point 4 point notes, “The Accused had also informed the complaint regarding his age related sickness and the statement made by him was not intentional and he was trying to explain the scenario of Afghanistan and never intended to hurt the feeling of complaint and or his association/ RSS.”
Click here to download the court order
The innocent lawyer, considering the above-mentioned aspects, present age and sickness of the accused, also considering the assurances given by the accused, compromised with the accused and noted in the mediation that he did not wish to proceed with the case and desired to withdraw the complaint; and that the honourable court may issue the direction accordingly. Based on this mediation submitted on 8th November 2024, the case was withdrawn and based on this magnanimity on the part of the complainant the accused was ‘acquitted’ by the courts. The complainant, though a lawyer, was immature and gullible enough not to note that when Mr Javed made the statements against RSS he was already old and sick.
It is clear that Javed gave excuse of his old age – a poor plea for a famous warrior poet who is strong enough to go on public platform to make irresponsible statements but turns ‘sick’ when taken to courts. He was contrite enough to assure that he did not and does not intend to defame Adv Santosh Dubey or his organisation/ RSS, but not intellectually brave enough to apologise for his intemperate language. Do not forget that Javed is a word smith, who has earned his wealth from his well-crafted words.
I hope the young lawyer did not file the case just to seek cheap publicity and turned turtle as soon as charming high priest of secularism, Javed, offered him a peace pipe. A budding lawyer has long legal career in front of him. He has committed a grave mistake by complaining in the name of RSS but gave up without understanding the consequences or the twist that media or politicians might give to it.
Lesson for other lawyers pursuing defamation cases against the other celebrity accused is that they should not fall for such a mediation unless in the end the people concerned apologise publicly or are punished. To the best of my knowledge, there is another case of defamation against Javed Akhtar. There are cases of defamation against Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh, Tasleem Rehmani, John Dayal and one Communist leader from Kerala, A N Shamsheer in Mumbai courts. I suggest that the lawyers fighting these cases learn from this case filed by Adv Dubey.
I also exhort the RSS hating leaders to fight their cases in courts and not to dig their tail between their legs when pulled to the courts. If they do not have the guts to fight then have decency to submit apologies rather than waste courts’ time by seeking adjournments and seeking ‘tareekh pe tareekh.’ At least, the ultimate U-turner Arvind Kejriwal has the decency to apologise. Akhtar, should have learnt from Kejriwal’s decency rather than to seek a way out by pleading about age related sickness and making a half-baked statement about his ‘intentions’. Lastly, Javed Akhtar, “Apni galti maan lene se koi Chhota nahin hota.”
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