Kangana Ranaut withdraws plea to quash defamation case
What's the story
Bollywood actor and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Kangana Ranaut has retracted her plea from the Supreme Court to quash the defamation case filed against her. After a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta showed its disinclination to entertain the plea, Ranaut's counsel withdrew it. The case arose from a retweet by Ranaut about a woman protestor during the 2020-21 farmer protests. She had approached the SC after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed her petition.
Statement retraction
'It was not a simple retweet. You have added spice...'
The Mandi MP is accused of defaming 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur from Punjab's Bathinda district, and for making "false imputations and remarks" against her in a retweet. Hearing the matter, the bench noted, "It was not a simple retweet. You have added spice...What this means is a subject matter of trial. Don't ask us to comment on what is written in the tweet. It may prejudice your trial."
Recall
Here's what Ranaut had written
Sharing a picture of Kaur, Ranaut had commented, saying she was the same "dadi" named Bilkis Bano who participated in the Shaheen Bagh protest. She also allegedly suggested that such women could be hired to protest for ₹100. In August, the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that the specific allegations had dented Kaur's reputation and lowered her esteem in the eyes of others.
Proceedings
MP not only shared tweet, but added her comment: Bench
Following the High Court's decision, the Queen actor had approached the Apex court, which also held the same view. While Ranaut's counsel tried to make her case by saying that "the person who had made the original tweet is not summoned," the judges noted that the MP had not merely shared the tweet but added her own comment.