Reports of Nora Fatehi filing a defamation case against Jacqueline Fernandez have been doing the rounds in the media since yesterday. Fernandez’s lawyer, Prashant Patil has now said that they are ready to fight it out aggressively in court, and even plan to file a countersuit.
For those not in the know, both Bollywood actresses were questioned by the Indian Enforcement Directorate over the past couple of months in connection with an approximately £1,95,23,980 extortion case connected to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. It was reported that Fernandez was also dating the conman.
If Indian news portals are to be believed, the defamation suit filed by Fatehi reads, “Jacqueline Fernandes sought to criminally defame the complainant in order to destroy her career to further her own interests, since they are both working in the same industry and have similar backgrounds, amongst other reasons.”
The defamatory case against Fernandez is filed over the latter’s written pleading before the court. The Kick (2014) actress submitted in the court that “she was being falsely implicated by the ED while celebs such as Nora Fatehi who had also received gifts from conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar had been made witnesses.”
Fernandez’s lawyer Prashant Patil has now said, “Right now, Jacqueline will not react to it as of now because the court has not taken cognizance of that suit yet. It is only Nora, or somebody, who has leaked the news into the media. Let the court take cognizance, if they do, we will definitely go for quashing it. And once Nora steps into the box, we will definitely conduct cross-examination.”
He continued, “First, where did this come from? Fernandez has replied in the court to the higher authority where there was me, ED and the authority. And these proceedings are not made in the public domain. If that is not made in the public domain, it is not defamation… During the course of arguments, whatever is said, cannot be raised to defamation and can’t be put in public domain. If certain media agencies have pulled out her responses and circulated, it is for the media agencies to answer,” he says.
He also added that he has not received any defamation suit copy from Nora and if they do, they will respond to it very strongly. “I have not got any official copy out of the courtroom yet, whatever I’ve gotten is only from the media. Even the court can also reject the notice… It is for the court to decide. It is premature at this stage. But if she has actually done it, we will deal with it very strongly. And once Jacqueline is out of it, then, we will build a countersuit of defamation,” he added.
Patil further said, “That is very unfortunate because Jacqueline has utmost respect for Nora to begin with. She has not consciously given any statement, forget about Nora, about anything for that matter. She has consciously stayed away from making any kind of a statement. If something like this comes up in the media circle, it will be dealt with legally. That being said, we will fight it very aggressively. If Jacqueline is dragged to the court, we are ready to fight it aggressively in the court.”
