Kangana skips court, fresh summons issued

Bathinda: Actor-turned-MP Kangana Ranaut failed to appear before a court in Bathinda on Monday in a defamation case, leading the court to issue fresh summons for Sept 29. The development comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to entertain her petition to quash the proceedings against her.Judicial magistrate first class Lakhbir Singh had on Aug 18 ordered Kangana to appear in court to face trial for offences under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. The case was filed by 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandia village in Bathinda after Kangana shared a post on social media in Dec 2020 during the height of the farmers' protests. Kangana had retweeted a post about an elderly woman protester, writing, "She is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian. And she is available for Rs 100." Kaur alleged the post wrongly identified her as Bilkis Badi, a prominent figure from the Shaheen Bagh protests, and maligned her reputation. Kangana has been seeking to have the case dismissed. She had previously moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, which dismissed her petition on Aug 1. She then approached the Supreme Court, which on Sept 12, also refused to entertain her plea, stating that her post was "not a simple retweet" and she had "added spice" to the content.