Kangana Ranaut lands in another legal battle, woman mistaken as 'Shaheen Bagh Dadi' in actor's tweet files case

MUMBAI: Bollywood actress and three-time national award winner Kangana Ranaut has landed herself in another legal battle. A complaint has been registered against the B-Town's 'Queen' by Mahinder Kaur in a court in Bathinda, who was misidentified as Shaheen Bagh dadi by the actress. Kaur's counsel Raghbir Singh said the complaint has been filed under IPC sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation). 

The Bathinda court has fixed January 11 as the date for hearing the complaint.

In her complaint, the 73-year-old woman farmer from Punjab said the actor made 'false imputations and remarks' against her in a tweet by comparing her with a woman, saying she was the same 'dadi' who was part of the Shaheen Bagh protest. "By using such remarks, the actor lowered my reputation and prestige," Kaur alleged in the complaint. "Because of the 'false and scandalous' tweet, the complainant was suffering from grave mental tension, agony, harassment, humiliation, loss of reputation and defamation in the eyes of her family members, relatives, neighbours, co-villagers and general public at large," as per the complaint. 

Kaur, a resident of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda, said Ranaut had not even tendered an unconditional apology to her.

The Bollywood actor had misidentified Kaur as Bilkis Bano, the octogenarian who made headlines during the anti-CAA protests in 2019 in the Delhi neighbourhood of Shaheen Bagh. Ranaut had shared a tweet alleging that the 'Shaheen Bagh dadi' also joined the farmers' agitation over the new agriculture laws at various border points of the national capital.

She retweeted the post with pictures of the two elderly women, including Bilkis Bano, and wrote that the 'same Dadi' who featured in Time Magazine was 'available in 100 rupees'. Later, the actor deleted the tweet after Twitter users pointed out that both the women were different.

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