Chastised, Kangana withdraws plea to bin defamation case

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's plea to quash the defamation case lodged against her for a tweet related to the 2020-21 farmers protest and asked her to fight the case in trial court.

Though Ranaut's lawyer tried to impress upon the court that it was a simple retweet that was done by many others who were not facing any prosecution, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and San-deep Mehta said, "It is not a simple retweet as you say. You had added something, you added spice to what was existing." SC said any observation passed by it would prejudice her case affecting the trial and asked her instead to prove her point in the trial court. The MP, thereafter, withdrew her petition.

Ranaut had moved the apex court challenging an order of Punjab and Haryana HC, which had refused to quash the complaint against her. Complainant Mahinder Kaurhad alleged that the actor had made "false imputations and remarks" against her in a retweet by saying she was the same "dadi" who was part of the Shaheen Bagh protest. "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," HC had said.


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