A Mumbai court on Tuesday issued summons to veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar in connection with a defamation case filed by a lawyer over his alleged remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) made during a television interview last year.

The lawyer, Santosh Dubey, had in October last year filed a complaint against the 77-year-old lyricist-poet before the metropolitan magistrate court at suburban Mulund under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).