Supreme Court to Hear Kangana Ranaut’s Defamation Plea on September 12

The Supreme Court will on September 12 hear actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut’s plea against a defamation case linked to her remarks during the 2020–21 farmer protests.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta will hear the matter. The case began after Ranaut retweeted a post and added comments about a woman protestor, which led to allegations of defamation.

The complaint was filed in 2021 by 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur from Bathinda, Punjab. She alleged that Ranaut wrongly identified her as Bilkis Bano, popularly known as “Shaheen Bagh dadi,” and claimed that the comparison damaged her reputation.

The Bathinda court had earlier issued summons against Ranaut after finding a prima facie case under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC. Ranaut’s legal team later challenged this in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but the High Court refused to quash the case.

Kaur argued that Ranaut’s remarks lowered her dignity in society and on social media. She clarified that she had actively joined farmer protests but had no connection with the Shaheen Bagh protestor mentioned by Ranaut.

Ranaut’s lawyers argued that the Bathinda court’s order was flawed as the report from Twitter Communications India Pvt Ltd (TCIPL) was not available at the time of summons. However, the High Court noted that the non-availability of such a report did not affect the magistrate’s power to issue summons.

The Supreme Court will now examine whether the defamation proceedings against Ranaut should continue.