Defamation case: You added spice, says Supreme Court as Kangana withdraws plea

The counsel appearing for Ranaut told the bench, presided by Justice Vikram Nath, “She retweeted the same. The original tweet had a lot of retweets by other people.” The counsel said that Ranaut had clarified her tweet, to which the court said she can give the clarification to the trial court. The trial court, which summoned her, had not considered her clarification, it added.

The Bench then responded by saying that the “complainant may not have produced the clarification before the trial court”, adding “it may be a valid defence for you.”

“The situation for me is that in Punjab, I can’t travel,” the counsel said, with the court saying she can request the trial court to exempt her from personal appearance. The court cautioned the counsel that it may prejudice Ranaut’s case if it makes adverse remarks, and said, “Don’t ask us to comment on what’s written in the tweet. It may prejudice your trial. You may have a valid defence.”

The counsel then told the court, “I will withdraw (the case).”

This case was filed by 73-year-old Mahinder Kaur before the Bathinda magistrate court. In a complaint in January 2021, Kaur had alleged that during the farmer protests, Ranaut had posted a defamatory tweet against her.