Preity alleges defamatory article was meant to increase sales
(No Ratings Yet)Film star Preity Zinta alleged in a court here today that a city tabloid had published an article showing her “in a very poor and sexual light” purely to increase its circulation and that she was humiliated by it.
Zinta slapped a defamation suit on the tabloid for publishing the article on July 15, 2005 in which she had allegedly been written about in a negative manner.
The article allegedly contained an excerpt of a purported conversation between actors Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai recorded by police in 2001, in which the former had spoken about Zinta.
Tapes of the conversation were subsequently declared to be fake by the Chandigarh Forensic Science Laboratory.
Zinta, clad in a beige salwar kameez, told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate J B Panke that she was told about the article by her mother and manager while she was abroad.
“I was upset, humiliated, embarrassed and felt very helpless after I read the article,” Zinta said.
Despite sending a legal notice to the tabloid demanding an unconditional apology and compensation, she had not received either, she said.
“The article was written purely to defame me and is vulgar and cheap. It portrayed me in a bad light as an immoral woman,” Zinta said.
The next hearing of the case is scheduled for March 22.
As Zinta left the court, many of her fans blocked the road alongside it and cheered her as she got into her vehicle.
— PTI
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