The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the Trial Court to adjourn criminal defamation proceedings initiated against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut over her 'Shaheen Bagh Dadi' tweet, beyond September 8, 2022.
Justice Meenakshi I Mehta issued notice on Kangana's plea challenging the case filed by Mahinder Kaur. The actress was summoned by the Magistrate Court, Bathinda in February.
"Meanwhile, the trial Court shall adjourn the criminal complaint case, as pending before it, beyond the next date of hearing as fixed in the present petition," the bench said in its order.
The complaint was filed in January 2021 wherein Kaur had alleged that actor during farmer protest had made defamatory tweet by comparing Kaur with "Dadi" at Shaheen Bagh, stating that such protestors could be hired.
Kaur, alleging that Ranaut made false imputations against her in the alleged tweet, sought initiation of criminal proceedings under Section 499/500 for defamation.
Appearing for the actress, Advocate Abhinav Sood argued that the trial Court has mis-construed the provisions as contained in Section 202 Cr.P.C. He also submitted that the actress, without any intention to cause malicious imputation to the complaint, had just re-tweeted the alleged tweet which was originally tweeted by Twitter user namely Adhivakta Gautam Yadav. However, Yadav has not even been arrayed as an accused in the complaint case.
He also submitted that a bare perusal of the re-tweet shows that none of the alleged remarks were against Kaur.
The petition further stated that despite clearing the misconception, the actress was stopped last year by protesting farmers, in Punjab's Ropar district demanding an apology for her alleged remarks on the farmers who had been protesting against the central Agriculture laws last year. Ranaut had alleged she was "attacked" by a mob, who "abused" and "threatened to kill her" while she was on her way to her native place "Kullu".
"Contents of alleged complaint clearly show the fact that the Petitioner is a victim of a political vendetta hatched by some motivated beneficiaries with an anti-BJP agenda during the farmers protests. The Respondent/Complainant is being used as a tool only to harass the Petitioner and to gain their hidden motives," the plea stated.
Ranaut further stated that the complainant's case was completely false and patently absurd. It was also argued argued that the Magistrate had gravely erred and had and in a very cryptic and mechanical manner observed that the defences provided under section 499 IPC cannot be looked at the stage of issuing summon to the accused as u/s 202, CrPC the scope of the inquiry limited.
Case Title: Kangana Ranaut v Mahinder Kaur
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