Punjab court asks Kangana Ranaut to appear in person on October 27 in defamation case

Bathinda: A court here on Monday directed actor and MP Kangana Ranaut to be present in person on October 27 in a defamation case, rejecting her plea for appearing through video-conferencing.

The defamation case stems from the actor's retweet consisting of her own comment about complainant Mahinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Punjab's Bathinda district during the 2020-21 farmer protests against the now-repealed farm laws.

Ranaut's counsel had submitted an application seeking an exemption from physical appearance. After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court rejected the plea.

Advocate Raghubir Singh Beniwal, representing complainant Mahinder Kaur, said, "We opposed Kangana Ranaut's application because the law does not provide for an accused to be exempted from appearance at the initial stage of the case. We requested the court to ensure her presence, and in case of absence, to issue arrest warrants." The 73-year-old complainant had alleged that BJP MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh defamed her in the post on Twitter, now known as X, by identifying her wrongly as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh fame.

In her complaint before the court in Bathinda, Kaur said the actor made "false imputations and remarks" against her in the retweet by comparing her with a woman, saying she was the same "dadi" who was part of the Shaheen Bagh protest.

An application filed earlier in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to dismiss the case had already been rejected. Thereafter, Ranaut moved the Supreme Court against the court order.

However, the apex court on September 12 told Ranaut that it was not a simple retweet and that the actor-politician "added spice" to what was existing. Ranaut then withdrew the plea.