Actor Kangana Ranaut has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to challenge the defamation proceedings against her based on one Mahinder Kaur’s complaint. In 2021, Kaur had alleged that Kangana had made a defamatory tweet about her during the farmers protests comparing Kaur to the ‘dadi’ at Shaheen Bagh.
The matter was heard before the bench of Justice Meenakshi Mehta on Friday and is now scheduled to be heard on 11 July.
The actor had retweeted a collage of two elderly women with the caption, “Ha ha ha she is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian.... And she is available in 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. (sic)”
She soon deleted the tweet. The tweet was also fact-checked by several people online and publications including The Quint.
In her complaint, Kaur sought criminal proceedings against Kangana under Section 499/500 for defamation and the actor was summoned by the Magistrate Court on 22 February 2022. Kangana’s plea states that the actor had just retweeted a tweet originally posted by another account without malice.
The plea further alleged that Kangana was stopped by protesting farmers in Punjab who demanded an apology for her alleged remarks on the protests. It also claims that the “petitioner is a victim of a political vendetta”.
(With inputs from Live Law)
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