The Punjab and Haryana High Court has firmly shut the door on Kangana Ranaut’s request to dismiss a defamation case stemming from her fiery 2021 tweet during the peak of the farmers’ protest. The actor-turned-politician now remains tethered to a legal battle over her online remarks about protestor Mahinder Kaur.
The controversy traces back to a retweet where Ranaut mocked an elderly woman protester, suggesting she was a paid participant. The post, laced with sarcasm, likened Kaur to a global figure and quipped she was “available in 100 rupees,” while accusing foreign journalists of hijacking India’s PR narrative.
The fallout? A defamation complaint alleging reputational harm and public humiliation. Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya wasn’t swayed by Ranaut’s arguments that the tweet lacked malicious intent or that the Twitter (now X) report hadn’t been submitted. He saw enough in the material already on record to conclude that the magistrate’s summons was not only proper but based on reasoned scrutiny.
“There are specific allegations,” the judge noted, adding that the content of the retweet had the potential to lower Kaur’s standing in society. He emphasized that even without the technical report from Twitter, the magistrate had rightly concluded there was a case to answer.
Ranaut’s legal team had fired on multiple cylinders: arguing the tweet was misunderstood, the retweet wasn’t hers to defend, and that the complaint lacked the legal ingredient of mens rea. But the court dismissed these defenses, making it clear that preliminary evidence and inquiry were sufficient to proceed.
Interestingly, even a clerical slip in the order—labeling a retweet as a tweet—didn’t tilt the scales. The court ruled such an error did not undermine the judicial application of mind.
In sum, the High Court found no “exception” sheltering Ranaut from this defamation case under Section 499 IPC. The tweet may have been brief, but the legal consequences promise to be anything but.
