SC to Hear Kangana Ranaut’s Defamation Plea Over 2020-21 Farmers’ Protest Tweet on Sept 12

The Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta will hear the matter.

Ranaut, who is also a sitting BJP Member of Parliament, moved the Apex Court under Section 482 of the erstwhile Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), seeking to quash the complaint and the summoning order issued by a Bathinda magistrate on February 22, 2022. The complaint, filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the now-repealed Indian Penal Code, arose from a retweet by Ranaut, which included her commentary about a woman protestor during the farmers’ agitation.

The complainant, 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur from Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Punjab’s Bathinda district, alleged that Ranaut had made “false imputations and remarks” against her by referring to her as the same “dadi”; namely Bilkis Bano, who had been part of the Shaheen Bagh protest and featured in international media coverage, including Time magazine. Kaur asserted that she had no connection to the Shaheen Bagh protester referenced in the tweet and that the comparison was incorrect, defamatory, and injurious to her reputation.

Kaur highlighted that she had been actively participating in sit-ins and dharnas since the inception of the farmers’ protest in 2020-21, despite her advanced age, and had traveled to Delhi to join demonstrations against the now-repealed farm laws. She claimed that the retweet by Ranaut caused harm to her “pride, honour, and defamed her on social media.”

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in its August 1 order, dismissed Ranaut’s plea for quashing the complaint, holding that the magistrate had “duly applied mind to the material on record” before issuing the summoning order. The High Court had observed that the commission of an offence under Sections 499 and 500 IPC was prima facie established and that the filing of the complaint could not be considered mala fide.

The Court had further noted, “There are specific allegations against the petitioner who is a celebrity, that false and defamatory imputations by her in the retweet have dented the respondent’s reputation and lowered her in her own estimation, as also in the eyes of others. Therefore, filing of the complaint to vindicate her rights cannot be termed mala fide.”

During the proceedings before the High Court, Kangana Ranaut’s Counsel had argued that the summoning order of the Bathinda magistrate was unsustainable, claiming violations of the CrPC. It was contended that a report from Twitter Communications India Private Limited (TCIPL); requested by the magistrate to verify whether the alleged retweet had been made by the petitioner, was never received. The defence had argued that the non-receipt of this report rendered the summoning order procedurally flawed.

Ranaut’s Counsel also maintained that the actor had no intention to harm the complainant’s reputation, emphasizing that the tweet had been retweeted in a wider context and that the magistrate’s actions were premature.

However, the High Court rejected this argument, noting that non-receipt of the TCIPL report could not divest the magistrate of jurisdiction under Section 202 CrPC. Justice Dahiya had observed, “…Non-receipt of report by TCIPL as to whether the alleged retweet has been made by the petitioner, cannot be a ground to divest the Magistrate (of court in Bathinda) of jurisdiction under Section 202 CrPC. The report could not be submitted as the company was neither the owner nor in control of twitter.com, and was a separate entity engaged only in research, development and marketing.”

Notably in August 2022, the High Court has granted interim relief to Ranaut, and had directed the trial court to adjourn the proceedings in the defamation case against Ranaut beyond the date fixed before the High Court. The Court was hearing a plea filed by the Bollywood actor challenging the criminal defamation proceedings initiated on the complaint of Mahinder Kaur before the Magistrate Court, Bathinda.

In 2021, Kangana Ranaut was stopped by protesting farmers in Punjab’s Ropar district demanding an apology for her alleged remarks on the farmers who had been protesting against the Center's three Farm laws last year. The actor alleged that she was “attacked” by a mob, who “abused” and “threatened to kill her”. In November 2021, Kangana Ranaut had filed an FIR against Manpreet Singh and others of Bathinda who had issued her life threat on Facebook.