The lawyer of an actor, who has accused filmmaker Anurag Kashyap of raping her in 2013, on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that she is willing to apologise for her remarks against actor Richa Chadha, reported Live Law. This came two days after Chadha moved the High Court with a defamation suit against the actor for trying to unnecessarily “drag her name” in the case and called the attempts “false, frivolous and vexatious”.
Chadha had also named film critic Kamaal R Khan and television channel ABN Telugu in her plea, seeking Rs 1.1 crore in damages for posting libelous content against her with the intention of maligning her reputation.
Advocate Nitin Satpute made the submission on Wednesday on behalf of the actor who has accused Kashyap. “My client has accepted the request,” the lawyer said, according to Bar and Bench. “She is ready to tender an apology and withdraw the statement. She is ready to settle the matter.”
The bench of Justice AK Menon asked Khan’s counsel if he is also willing to take back his comments. However, Khan’s lawyer said that he had only shared the comments on Chadha.
Meanwhile, the court recorded that the complainant will work out an apology and a withdrawal of her remarks against Chadha by next week. Satpute was asked to immediately contact advocate Saveena Bedi Sachar, representing Chadha.
Khan’s counsel was directed to refrain from sharing any content related to Chadha or the case till the matter is hearing again on October 12. A temporary injunction was also passed that asked news platforms to stop sharing disputed content related to Chadha, according to Live Law.
Chadha’s plea stated that ABN Telugu broadcasted and uploaded on YouTube two defamatory videos of an interview with the actor, describing graphic details of the alleged sexual assault. The plea added that Khan, and others named in the suit, shared the link of one of these videos on Twitter.
The petition said that although the complainant and the channel were served a legal notice on September 21, the actor went ahead and gave another interview to journalist Viral Bhayani and also spoke to entertainment website Pinkvilla.com.
The complainant has accused Kashyap of raping her seven years ago when she had met him for work. She also claimed that Kashyap had mentioned to her that other actors like Chadha, Huma Qureshi and Mahie Gill had granted him sexual favours to bag film assignments. Kashyap has denied all the allegations and called them “an outright lie”. The filmmaker has also produced documentary evidence to show that he was in Sri Lanka in August 2013 to shoot one of his films.
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