Jacqueline Fernandez’s lawyer says she will respond to Nora Fatehi’s defamation suit ‘to protect her dignity’

A day after Nora Fatehi filed a defamation suit against fellow actor Jacqueline Fernandez, the latter’s lawyer has spoken out about the case. Nora and Jacqueline were both questioned by the Enforcement Directorate over the last few months in connection with a ₹200-crore extortion case connected to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Jacqueline is also a co-accused in the case. Also read: Nora Fatehi files defamation suit against Jacqueline Fernandez

Nora’s suit is against Jacqueline and a few media organisations for allegedly ‘trying to tarnish her reputation’ and cause loss of work in the industry. However, Jacqueline’s lawyer has said that his client has never said anything in public about Nora Fatehi and hence, the question of defaming her does not arise.

In an interview to ETimes, advocate Prashant Patil said, “Jacqueline has not made any statement in front of any electronic or print media against Nora or for that matter, any other person. She has consciously avoided talking about the Enforcement Directorate proceedings. Till date she has maintained the sanctity of law and because the matter is sub-judice she has always avoided to speak in front of print and social media. Having said that, we have not received any official copy of the suit filed by Nora. Once we receive an official confirmation or an order of the Honourable Court, we will respond to it legally.”

The lawyer added that while Jacqueline has the ‘utmost respect’ for Nora, if she is dragged into legal proceedings, she will ‘respond to protect her dignity’. “My client has the utmost respect for Nora. There definitely has been some sort of miscommunication. Quoting anybody’s reply, filed before an adjudicating authority, is a matter of pure judicial proceeding. Any statement made during the course of arguments made before a judicial proceeding cannot be quoted in the public domain, the way it has been quoted now. My client has no intention to defame Nora or for that matter anybody else. If Jacqueline is dragged to any legal court, she will respond legally to protect her own dignity,” he added.

In her defamation suit filed on Monday in a Delhi court, Nora said, “It has started to become evident that the aforementioned rivals being unable to compete with the Complainant fairly in the industry have started to try and tarnish her reputation which would cause her loss of work.” Jacqueline is listed as ‘accused 1’ in the suit.

Both Nora and Jacqueline have been questioned several times by the ED in connection with the racket run by Sukesh Chandrasekhar. The conman was allegedly running the cheating and extortion racket in connivance with jail officials and some associates outside. While Jacqueline has been named as an accused by ED in their supplementary charge sheet, Nora has also been questioned multiple times.