Jigna Vora and Ram Kamal Mukherjee for Mumbai Mirror
Mumbai, Jun 15: The Girgaum court on Tuesday witnessed a drama of sorts when an agitated Preity Zinta aired her grievances.
Zinta was in court for the hearing of a defamation case she had filed against a city-based tabloid. The actress stood for almost 45 minutes in the witness box telling the court how she religiously came for every hearing only to hear that the case had been adjourned to a further date. She said that she had to cancel her shoot several times for this. She also said that if this continued the case would go on even after she got married and had children.
The tabloid in question had published the transcript of a conversation between Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in which Salman had used abusive language and innuendo while speaking about Zinta.
However, after reports from the Chandigarh lab proved that the tape had been doctored, Zinta filed a defamation case against the tabloid.
In court, she demanded an apology and compensation from the tabloid. She also said that this would caution people in future to clarify things before publishing defamatory articles.
Throughout the outburst, the court listened patiently and carefully observed Zinta’s contention. However, the case was adjourned to July 11 after the editor at the time the transcript was published failed to appear even though executive editor of the tabloid and two other employees were present.
“I just can’t let this happen,” Zinta declared once she came out of court. “I am happy that the court has issued non-bailable warrants against the managing director and the editor of the paper. I am happy that the case is taking a positive direction and am sure that I will get justice soon,” she added.
So is Preity against the media? “My fight is not with the media. I know that stars and the media exist like a railway track. But I am a woman and I just can’t allow anyone to write rubbish about me. I am living in a male-dominated society and it is very important for me to clear the controversy. I have always held my head high and I want to quit this industry with a clean image. I want the publication to accept its fault and give an article stating that the tape transcript was untrue. I am fighting for my dignity here,” she said.