Metropolitan Magistrate of the 44th court Andheri, U S Mendjoge issued the warrant against Hira, editor and printer of Stardust

magazine Ashwin Varde and correspondent Omar Qureshi after no represntatives appeared on their behalf when Neelam's advocate Girish Kulkarni was present in the court for the hearing. The warrant has been made returnable on February 20, 1999.

Neelam filed the defamation case after the magazine had carried articles containing statements which according to her injured her reputation in three successive issues of the magazine in 1995.

According to the complaint, the statements in the above articles have exposed the actress to contempt, hatred and ridiculeand has lowered her moral character. According to Neelam, the statements were false and that she has been falsely, maliciously and recklessly defamed by the accused both in her personal as well as in her professional capacity. ``The magazine deliberately did not take the preliminary precaution of verifying the facts and had failed or deliberately refused to publish the apology when asked,'' she added.

The Bombay High Court had passed an order restraining the accused, their servants and agents from publishing, republishing or reprinting the articles till the disposal of the suit. The court also held that the accused have made a systematic attempt to defame the actress.