Munish Sood
MANDI:
Kangana Ranaut, Bollywood actor and first-time BJP MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, suffered a major legal setback on Friday (August 1, 2025) as the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed her petition to quash a defamation complaint filed by an elderly woman farmer from Bathinda.
The case stems from a controversial tweet Kangana Ranaut posted during the peak of the farmers’ protest in 2021 in which she alleged that “women were participating in the agitation for ₹100 each”.
The high court’s rejection means that the defamation trial against Kangana Ranaut will now proceed in a Bathinda court. Kangana Ranaut, however, has the option of approaching the Supreme Court to challenge the high court decision.
The complainant, 87-year-old Mahinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandian village, had alleged that Kangana Ranaut’s comments caused irreparable damage to her dignity and reputation
Controversial tweet and its fallout
The dispute dates back to January 2021 when Kangana Ranaut retweeted a post featuring an image of Mahinder Kaur and wrote: “Ha ha ha… she is the same dadi who was featured in Time magazine as one of the most powerful Indian women… and she is available for Rs 100. Pakistani journos have hijacked international PR for India in an embarrassing way. We need our own people to speak for us internationally.”
Kangana Ranaut later claimed that she merely reposted another user’s tweet and had not intended personal harm. However, Mahinder Kaur, who had no connection with the woman featured in Time magazine or with the Shaheen Bagh protests, filed a defamation complaint under IPC Sections 499 and 500.
The Bathinda court, after over a year of hearings, issued a summons to Kangana Ranaut in early 2022. Seeking relief, Kangana Ranaut approached the high court to quash the complaint, the summoning order and subsequent proceedings, a plea that has now been rejected.
Reacting to the incident in earlier interviews, Mahinder Kaur had strongly condemned Kangana Ranaut’s remarks. “She called me a protester for hire. What does she know of farming or our struggles? I work in the fields every day. Why would I go to a protest for Rs 100?”
Kaur went on to say that Ranaut’s statement caused her mental trauma and humiliation. “She doesn’t understand the sweat and toil that goes into farming. It’s not something you joke about,” she said.
Political and public repercussions
This is not the first time Kangana Ranaut’s controversial comments during the farmers’ protest have backfired. She was slapped by a CISF woman constable at Chandigarh airport. The constable claimed that Kangana Ranaut had disrespected women protestors like her own mother by implying they were paid participants.
Despite the physical altercation, no FIR was filed and Kangana Ranaut chose not to pursue legal action. However, the incident reignited public discourse around her past remarks and now adds context to the high court’s ruling.
