Kangana Ranaut defamation case hearing adjourned to August 3

A local court on Saturday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case against BJP MP from Mandi and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut to August 3, as proceedings could not be held due to the ongoing “No Work” strike by the Bar Association against the Legal Aid Defence Counsel (LADC) policy.

Advocate RS Behniwal, counsel for complainant, elderly farmer Mahinder Kaur, said the court directed the complainant and her relative Gurpreet Singh to appear on the next date for recording of their evidence.

He said the court would also hear arguments on Kangana’s application seeking permission to surrender her passport on August 3.

The case relates to a 2020 social media post in which Kangana allegedly misidentified Mahinder Kaur, a resident of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district, as Bilkis Bano, a participant in the Shaheen Bagh protests. She had also allegedly made remarks that such women were “available for Rs 100” to participate in protests.

Following the remarks, Mahinder Kaur filed a criminal defamation complaint against Kangana in January 2021.

A local court had granted bail to Kangana in this case on October 27 last year.

At that time, Kangana had told mediapersons, “This is just a misunderstanding. I had only retweeted a meme and did not intend to hurt anyone specifically. I have already apologised to Mahinder Kaur ji’s husband. Several memes were circulated during the farmer's agitation and one of them was retweeted by me inadvertently. I cannot even dream of what has been portrayed. Whether a mother is from Himachal Pradesh or Punjab, she is respectable to me.”

Mahinder Kaur, however, had maintained that she would continue with her legal battle.