Bathinda: The hearing in the defamation case against BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut was once again deferred after lawyers abstained from work at the Bathinda court on Saturday.
With court proceedings affected by the lawyers’ strike, the matter could not be taken up. The next hearing has now been scheduled for August 3.
According to court sources, witness statements are expected to be recorded on the next date of hearing. The court is also likely to hear arguments on the plea seeking the seizure of Ranaut’s passport.
The complainant, Mahinder Kaur, and her grandson appeared before the court on Saturday, but the proceedings could not take place due to the strike.
The case stems from social media posts made by Ranaut during the farmers’ protest, in which she shared a photograph of elderly farmer Mahinder Kaur from Bahadurgarh Jandian village and compared her with Bilkis Bano, who had become a prominent face of the Shaheen Bagh protests. Ranaut had allegedly claimed that such women were available to participate in protests for ₹100, prompting Mahinder Kaur to file a defamation complaint.
Following the controversy, the Bharatiya Janata Party had distanced itself from Ranaut’s remarks on the farmers’ protest, stating that her comments did not reflect the party’s official position. The party had also advised her to refrain from making such statements in the future.
