After no relief from the SC, MP Kangana Ranaut to face bathinda court summons in defamation case on September 15

BATHINDA: With Bollywood actor-turned-Lok Sabha member Kangana Ranaut failing to get any relief from the Supreme Court in a defamation case against her for a retweet made in December 2020, she is set to face summons from a Bathinda court returnable for September 15, 2025. The court of Bathinda JMIC Lakhbir Singh, during a previous hearing in the case on August 18, 2025, ordered the accused, Kangana Ranaut, to be summoned to face trial for the offences punishable under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC for September 15, 2025.Earlier, the summons for appearance in court were issued on February 22, 2022. When the summons were not received back, in order to ensure the presence of the accused, the court again issued summons through the Senior Superintendent of Police, Bathinda, on April 19, 2022, for July 14, 2022.

However, on July 11, a bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the proceedings in the trial court until further orders.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the plea of Kangana Ranaut on August 1, 2025, and the stay on proceedings was vacated.On Friday, the bench of the Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition filed by BJP MP Kangana Ranaut for quashing a criminal defamation complaint filed against her retweet during the farmer struggle.

As per Live Law, the court expressed reservations about the comments of the petitioner. "What about your comments? It was not a simple retweet. You have added your own comments. You have added spice."Kangana Ranaut retweeted a post on Twitter along with her own comment about an elderly woman protester, Mahinder Kaur, writing, “She is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian. And she is available for 100 rupees."

This tweet related Mahinder Kaur to Bilkis Dadi, a participant in the Shaheen Bagh protests.Angry over it, then 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur from Bahadurgarh Jandia village in Bathinda filed a defamation suit under Section 499, 500 of the IPC in Bathinda court on January 5, 2021, stating Kangana Ranaut maligned her reputation. One Gurpreet Singh of Bahadurgarh Jandia village, who accompanied Mahinder Kaur to protests at the borders of Delhi against farm laws in 2020-21, recorded his statement in the case and also furnished a certificate under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, about the retweet by Kangana Ranaut, which provided mental harm to the aged woman farmer.