Entertainment Desk : dhakamirror.com
Bollywood star Salman Khan has appealed the Sessions Court’s earlier decision not to issue a restraining order against his Panvel farmhouse neighbor NRI Ketan Kakkar to the Bombay High Court.
Salman claimed that Ketan had made multiple defamatory postings against him on social media in his petition to the High Court.
He added that Ketan’s posts are not only defamatory and derogatory against him but also communally biased and create a communal divide. The matter will be heard by a single judge bench of Bombay HC, of Justice C V Bhadang, on August 22.
The actor was asked by the High Court to provide transcriptions of the allegedly defamatory remarks made by Kakkad, including the claim that Khan is a member of don Dawood Ibrahim’s gang.
Khan had filed a defamation lawsuit before the city civil court regarding the videos posted by Kakkad on social media, seeking the court to order Kakkad to take them down and restrain him from making such remarks in the future. The actor had moved the HC after the civil court declined to issue an injunction order.
Kakkad, through his advocates Abha Singh and Aditya Pratap, had told the trial court that a defamation case was filed by Khan to pressurise him to give up the fight for his land in Panvel.
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam, appearing for Khan, said the videos uploaded by Kakkad are blithely speculative. “They are not only defamatory but also communally provokes viewers against Salman Khan.”
Referring to the script of the videos, Kadam said that Kakkad speaks about Khan being a member of a minority community trying to usurp a Ganesh temple in Panvel near his farmhouse.
“Kakkad compares the actor to Babar and Aurangzeb and says it has taken 500 years for Ayodhya temple to come up and here, Salman Khan is trying to shut down a Ganesh temple. These videos are watched by lakhs of viewers who then post their comments against Salman Khan. This is clearly provocating viewers against Salman. The videos have communalised everything and made it Hindus vs Muslims,” Kadam said.
He added that Kakkad had also made defamatory comments like “Khan is indulging in drug, organ and child trafficking from his farmhouse” and therefore, damages have to be paid to him.
