Punjab and Haryana HC dismisses Kangana's plea for quashing summoning order against her

Chandigarh, Aug 1 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday dismissed the plea of actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut for quashing the summoning order against her by a local court in Bathinda in a defamation case over her farm protest remark against an elderly woman farmer.

"There are specific allegations against the petitioner who is a celebrity, that false and defamatory imputations by her in the retweet have dented the respondent's reputation and lowered her in her own estimation, as also in the eyes of others. Therefore, filing of the complaint to vindicate her rights cannot be termed mala fide," Justice Tribhuvan Singh Dahiya observed.

The defamation complaint against the BJP's Member of Parliament was filed by Mahinder Kaur (73) of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district, alleging that Kangana had defamed her in a post on the social media platform X by identifying her wrongly as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh fame and implying that such women could be hired to protest for Rs 100.

In her retweet, Kangana had commented: "Ha ha ha, she is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian... And she is available for 100 rupees. Pakistani jurno's have hijacked international PR for India in an embarrassing way. We need our own people to speak for us internationally."

This was in reference to a tweet by Gautam Yadav, which carried the photograph of the complainant, Kaur, who contended that the defamatory content not only hurt her pride and honour, but also lowered her reputation among fellow protestors.

Kaur asserted she had no connection with the Shaheen Bagh protests or the woman featured in Time magazine, and that the imputations were wholly false.

Kaur said she belonged to a farming family, actively participated in the farmers' agitation, and that the remarks made by Kangna Ranaut had subjected her to public ridicule and caused mental distress.

After hearing the matter at length, the High Court found no merit in the petition and dismissed it. The post, which was later deleted, targeted Mahinder Kaur during her participation in the farmers' agitation at Delhi's borders.

On February 22, 2022, the judicial magistrate in Bathinda issued a summons asking Kangana to appear before the court.

Aggrieved by the lower court order, she had approached the High Court, contending that the trial court had misapplied Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

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