Kangana Ranaut Defamation Case: Supreme Court Rejects Request To Quash Plea For Post On 2021 Farmer Protests

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a petition filed by actress and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut for the quashing of a criminal defamation complaint filed against her post on X about a woman participant in the 2021 farmers' protests.

The plea was rejected by Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta.

Kangana's post on social media platform X, previously Twitter, about Mahinder Kaur claimed that the elderly protester was the same “dadi” who featured in Time magazine (referring to the Shaheen Bagh “dadi” figure) and said she was “available for Rs 100” (implying she was being paid to protest), etc.

Justice Mehta 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," Justice Mehta observed, Live Law reported.

The bench suggested that the petitioner withdraw the petition. The petition was accordingly dismissed as withdrawn, as per the Live Law report.

In August, the Punjab and Haryana High Court also declined to grant relief to the Bollywood actor for the defamation case.

A bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observed that there was no evidence to show that her statement supporting a post on Twitter, now called ‘X’, was made in good faith or for public good.

Dismissing the plea filed by Kangana’s lawyers to quash the defamation case against her, a bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya noted, “There is no substance in the next submission by learnt counsel for the petitioner that the retweet was in good faith, and in the absence of mens rea (malice) she was entitled to the benefit of the Ninth and Tenth Exceptions to Section 499 IPC.”

The ninth and tenth exceptions of the 499 IPC are exceptions in the criminal defamation law that are available to the accused in certain circumstances to defend himself or herself.