Chandigarh: The special MP-MLA court in Bathinda has allowed the BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut to attend all future hearings of the ongoing defamation case - filed by an elderly farmer Mahinder Kaur
- through video conferencing, instead of appearing in person.
The court order on Thursday came after Kangana’s counsel told court that she faced serious security threats, referring to the FIR about threats to her life and an alleged assault at Chandigarh airport.
Exempting Kangana from appearing in person for future hearings, the court, however, told her to attend every hearing through video conferencing and to file an undertaking that she will not delay the trial and that her counsel must remain present on all the hearings.
She had appeared in the court on Thursday through video conferencing; judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Inderjeet Singh has fixed the next hearing on January 27.
The court also allowed Mahinder Kaur to call additional witnesses whose statements may be important for a fair trial.
For record, the said defamation case, filed in 2021 by Mahinder Kaur, pertains to a 2020 tweet post by Kangana during the farmers’ protest in which she shared a photograph of Mahinder Kaur mistakenly identifying her as Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protester Bilkis Bano and alleging that ``such women could be hired for Rs 100’’ to participate in protests.
