SC refuses to entertain Kangana Ranaut’s plea challenging summons in a defamation case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea filed by actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s refusal to quash a summoning order issued against her by a Bathinda court in a defamation case.

The defamation complaint against the BJP MP was filed by 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district, alleging that Kangana Ranaut defamed her in a post on social media platform X by wrongly identifying her as a Shaheen Bagh protester, Bilkis Bano and suggesting that such women could be hired to protest for Rs 100.

“It was not a simple retweet. The interpretation of this tweet cannot be considered in a quashing petition. Your clarification is for the trial court, not in a quashing petition,” remarked a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

“Don’t ask us to comment on your tweet. It may prejudice your trial. You want to withdraw?” the Justice Nath-led Bench.

Sensing the disinclination of the Apex Court to entertain the plea, Kangana’s counsel then chose to withdraw the special leave petition (SLP).

In February 2022, a Bathinda judicial magistrate issued a summons directing Kangana Ranaut to appear before the court.

Aggrieved by the summoning order, she had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, contending that the trial court had misapplied Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

After hearing the matter at length, Justice Tribhuvan Singh Dahiya of the Punjab and Haryana High Court found no merit in the petition and dismissed it, prompting Kanagana to approach the Supreme Court.

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.”

The post, which was later deleted, targeted Mahinder Kaur during her participation in the farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s borders. 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.

IANS