CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a petition filed by actor-turned-politician and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut seeking to quash the summoning order on a defamation complaint filed against her by an elderly woman of Bathinda.
Ranaut had sought quashing of the criminal complaint filed under Sections 499 and 500 of IPC, as well as the summoning order and all subsequent proceedings in the matter.
After considering the matter, the High Court found no merit in the petition and dismissed it.
The Bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya did not accept the argument for quashing the complaint and the summoning order. "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,” the high court has observed in its detailed order.
The court further observed that the magistrate has duly applied mind to the material on record, and only after recording satisfaction that commission of offence under Sections 499 IPC is prima facie made out against the petitioner, the process has been issued. With this, she has to face the trial before the local court in Punjab.
On February 22, 2022, Bathinda judicial magistrate had issued summons asking Kangana to appear before the court. But she had approached the Punjab and Haryana high court contending that the trial court had misapplied Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The defamation complaint against Kangana was filed by 73-year old Mahinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district. Kaur in her complaint before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bathinda had alleged that it had falsely compared her to another elderly woman associated with the Shaheen Bagh protests by farmers and featured in a magazine. She contended that the defamatory content not only hurt her pride and honour, but also lowered her reputation among fellow protestors. She asserted that she had no connection with the Shaheen Bagh protests or the woman featured in a magazine, and that the imputations were wholly false.
She alleged that Kangana Ranaut had defamed her in a tweet by identifying her wrongly as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh fame and implying that such women could be hired for Rs 100 to participate in the protest.
The tweet, which was later deleted, targeted Mahinder Kaur during her participation in the farmers' agitation at Delhi's borders.