A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta declined to entertain Ms. Ranaut’s plea to quash the defamation case and allowed her counsel to withdraw it

The Supreme Court on Friday (September 12, 2025) declined to entertain actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut’s petition seeking the quashing of a criminal defamation complaint filed against her over a retweet linked to the 2020-21 farmers’ protest against the Centre’s now-repealed farm laws.

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta expressed its disinclination to hear the plea and permitted Ms. Ranaut’s counsel to withdraw it, after suggesting that she could pursue alternative remedies before the trial court.

The BJP leader had moved the apex court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed her plea earlier, holding that she had failed to establish that her allegedly defamatory post was made in good faith. The High Court further observed that as a public figure with a large social media following, she bore “extra responsibility on her shoulders to verify the truthfulness of the remarks made by her.”

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Mehta voiced reservations about the actor’s comments. “What about your comments? It was not a simple retweet. You have added your own comments. You have added spice,” he remarked.

Her counsel submitted that a clarification had already been issued regarding the post. To this, Justice Mehta responded that the clarification could be placed before the trial court. “The interpretation of this tweet cannot be considered in a quashing petition. Give the clarification before the trial court,” the judge said.

When her lawyer sought to argue further, the Bench cautioned that it might be constrained to make observations that could prejudice her defence during trial. “Don’t ask us to comment on what is written in the tweet. It may prejudice your trial. You may have a valid defence,” Justice Mehta added.

Her lawyer then agreed to withdraw the plea, after which the Bench recorded the matter as “dismissed as withdrawn.”

‘Defamatory’ tweet
The case stems from a complaint filed in January 2021 by 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur, a resident of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Punjab’s Bathinda district, who had been protesting against the now-repealed farm laws. In her complaint before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bathinda, she alleged that Ms. Ranaut defamed her through a retweet on Twitter (now X) in which she was wrongly identified as Bilkis Bano, one of the women who participated in the Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Ms. Ranaut had shared the post claiming that the “Shaheen Bagh dadi” had also joined the farmers’ agitation at the Delhi border. The retweet, amplified to her millions of followers, was alleged to have tarnished Ms. Kaur’s reputation.

The complaint was registered under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deal with defamation and its punishment, respectively. After recording preliminary evidence, the Magistrate issued a summoning order on February 22, 2022, directing Ms. Ranaut to face trial. She then moved the High Court seeking to quash both the complaint and the summoning order, citing procedural irregularities and absence of intent to defame.

The High Court dismissed her plea, holding that the summoning order was “well reasoned” and based on sufficient prima facie evidence of defamation. It further noted that Ms. Ranaut had “failed to tender any apology to the complainant after knowing the truth,” thereby justifying the Magistrate’s decision to proceed with the case.