Kangana Ranaut Granted Bail in Punjab Defamation Case, Expresses Regret Over “Misunderstanding”

Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut was granted bail by a Bathinda court on Monday in a defamation case filed against her by a 73-year-old woman farmer, Mahinder Kaur, over a social media post made during the 2021 farmers’ protest.

The BJP MP from Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) appeared in person before the court after her earlier plea to attend the hearing via video conference was rejected in September. Security was tightened around the Bathinda court complex for her appearance, with barricades and a heavy police presence.

The case dates back to January 2021, when Mahinder Kaur, a resident of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda district, accused Ranaut of defaming her by wrongly identifying her as activist Bilkis Bano, popularly known as the “Shaheen Bagh dadi,” in a retweet accompanied by her own comment. Kaur alleged that the post made “false imputations” that harmed her reputation.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Ranaut said she regretted the “misunderstanding” that had arisen from the post.

“Whatever misunderstanding happened with Mahinder ji’s family, I conveyed my message to her husband for ‘mata ji’. Every ‘mata’, whether from Punjab or Himachal, is respectable to me,” Ranaut said, adding that she had no intention to target anyone personally.

She maintained that her comment was based on a meme circulating online and not directed at any specific individual. “There were many women in that meme. No comments were made against any one person,” she added.

Mahinder Kaur was not present in court, but her husband, Labh Singh, attended the hearing. Ranaut’s counsel submitted a bail bond furnished by her father, which the court accepted.

Kaur’s advocate, Raghubir Singh Beniwal, said the actor also filed a plea seeking permanent exemption from personal appearances, which he opposed. During the proceedings, the court asked Ranaut if she wanted to say anything, to which she replied that she wished to apologise to the complainant, asserting that her post had been “misunderstood.”

Labh Singh told the court he would consult others in his family before deciding whether to accept the apology. The court has scheduled the next hearing for November 24.

Earlier, Ranaut had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking to quash the defamation case, but her plea was dismissed on August 1, with the court noting that her status as a public figure gave weight to her comments.

When the matter reached the Supreme Court, the bench observed on September 12 that Ranaut’s retweet was “not a simple one” and that she had “added spice” to an existing post. The actor-politician subsequently withdrew her petition.