A court on Monday rejected actor and Mandi MP Kangana Ranaut’s plea to appear for a defamation case hearing through video-conferencing, directing her to be present in person on October 27.
The case stems from the BJP MP’s retweet consisting of her own comment about complainant Mahinder Kaur, of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Punjab’s Bathinda district, during the 2020-21 farmer protests against farm laws which were later repealed.
The 73-year-old complainant had alleged that Kangana had defamed her in the post on Twitter, now known as X, by identifying her wrongly as Bilkis Bano of Shaheen Bagh fame.
Ranaut’s counsel had submitted an application seeking an exemption from physical appearance, which the court rejected.
Also Read: HC rejects Kangana’s plea in defamation case
Advocate Raghubir Singh Beniwal, representing the complainant, said: “We opposed Kangana Ranaut’s application because the law does not provide for an accused to be exempted from appearance at the initial stage of the case. We requested the court to ensure her presence, and in case of absence, to issue arrest warrants.”
In her complaint before the court in Bathinda, Kaur said the actor made “false imputations and remarks” against her in the retweet by comparing her with a woman, saying she was the same "dadi" who was part of the Shaheen Bagh protest.
An application filed earlier in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to dismiss the case had already been rejected.
Thereafter, Ranaut moved the Supreme Court against the court order.
However, the apex court on September 12 told Ranaut that it was not a simple retweet and that the actor-politician "added spice" to what was existing. Ranaut then withdrew the plea.
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