Chandigarh: The BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi and film actress Kangana Ranaut was granted bail on Monday after she appeared before a court in Punjab’s Bathinda district in the defamation case filed against her by an elderly woman farmer over an alleged derogatory remark made by her during the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest.
Talking to newspersons after the court proceedings, Kangana said she had expressed regret for her social media post against the woman farmer. Stating that it was just a misunderstanding, she held that she had only retweeted a meme and did not intend to hurt anyone. She also held that she had apologised to 77-year old woman farmer Mahinder Kaur’s husband as she was not present in the court on Monday. Several memes were being circulated during the farmers’ protest and one of them was retweeted by her inadvertently, she added.
Kangana reached Bathinda on Monday as the Bathinda Judicial magistrate 1st class (JMIC) Lakhbir Singh had directed her to appear before the court in person on October 27 at 2 pm after her plea to appear through video conference was rejected. She arrived at the court – amid heavy police bandobust – and filed her bail bond in the court. The matter was later referred to JMIC Inderjit Singh, the special court designated to handle cases of the elected public representatives and the next hearing has been scheduled for November 24.
She stayed in the court complex for about one-and-half hours.
It may be recalled that the case pertains to a Kangana post on (then) Twitter during the 2020-2021 farmers protest, in which she shared a photograph of woman farmer Mahinder Kaur, from Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda, comparing her with Bilkis Bano, the elderly woman protester who became a symbol of the Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protest.
Kangana allegedly claimed that such women were ``available for Rs 100’’ to join protests. Her remark drew widespread outcry following which Mahinder Kaur filed a defamation complaint in January 2021, stating that her dignity and reputation had been harmed.
Subsequently, judicial magistrate Bathinda issued summons in 2022 to Kangana directing her to appear before the court, while she approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking quashing of the said complaint and Bathinda court’s summons. While the high court dismissed her plea, she moved the Supreme Court, which on September 12, 2025, refused to entertain her plea following which she withdrew her special leave petition (SLP) in the matter.
It may also be recalled that Kangana was slapped by a woman constable from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at a security check at the Chandigarh airport over her said controversial remarks related to the farmers’ stir, in June, 2024.
