SC to weigh Kangana’s plea on farmers’ protest defamation row on 12 Sept

The Supreme Court is set to hear on 12 September actor-turned-BJP MP Kangana Ranaut’s plea challenging a defamation case filed against her for remarks made during the 2020–21 farmer protests. A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta will take up the matter.

The case stems from a retweet by Ranaut in which she commented on a protester, allegedly mistaking 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur from Punjab’s Bathinda district for Bilkis Bano, the Shaheen Bagh activist featured in Time magazine. Kaur filed a complaint in January 2021, alleging that the tweet carried “false and defamatory imputations,” damaging her reputation and honour.

The Bathinda magistrate summoned Ranaut in February 2022 under Sections 499 and 500 of the now-repealed IPC after recording preliminary evidence. Ranaut later sought to quash the proceedings under Section 482 CrPC, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed her plea on 1 August.

The high court noted that Ranaut, as a celebrity, had made specific imputations that prima facie constituted defamation, and the magistrate had duly applied his mind before issuing process. “Filing of the complaint to vindicate her rights cannot be termed mala fide,” the court observed.

Ranaut’s counsel argued that the summoning order was flawed as it relied on incomplete procedure — pointing out that a report sought from Twitter Communications India Pvt. Ltd. was never received. The defence also maintained that Ranaut had no intention to harm Kaur’s reputation.

Justice Dahiya, however, held that the absence of a report from Twitter could not divest the magistrate of jurisdiction, as TCIPL was not the owner or operator of Twitter but only engaged in marketing and research in India.

Kaur, meanwhile, has maintained that she was actively involved in the farmers’ protests despite her age, and had no connection with Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh. She insists that Ranaut’s tweet wrongly equated her with another protester, thereby defaming her before the public.

With PTI inputs