‘My honor isn’t for sale’: 78-year-old Punjab farmer stands her ground against Kangana Ranaut

When Bollywood actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut appeared before a Bathinda court on October 27 in a defamation case filed by a 78-year-old farmer, the moment carried a weight far beyond the courtroom walls.

After tendering an apology and expressing regret over what she called a “misunderstanding,” Ranaut was granted bail — but for Mohinder Kaur, the elderly farmer from Punjab, the day marked a small but deeply personal victory in her long battle to reclaim her honour.

The case traces back to the 2020–21 farmers’ protest, when Ranaut shared a post on social media featuring a photograph of Kaur. In her caption, she insinuated that some protesters were being paid to attend the agitation, identifying the elderly woman as the “same dadi” who featured in Time magazine’s list of powerful women — a mistaken reference to Shaheen Bagh protester Bilkis — and adding that “she is available for ₹100.”

That single post — seen and shared by millions — left Kaur humiliated. She decided to fight back, not with hashtags or outrage, but with a legal petition filed quietly from her modest village home.

A quiet life, a loud injustice

Kaur lives in Bahadurgarh Jandian, a small village in Bathinda district. Though she owns 13 acres of land, her life bears no mark of affluence. Wooden logs still hold up her roof, and she cooks every meal on a chulha, tending to her 80-year-old husband, Labh Singh, who suffers from asthma, and her bedridden son Gurdas, recovering from a severe leg infection.

“Owning 13 acres is hardly what people think,” she says with a faint smile. “It’s not even what a peon earns in a year. I’ve worked hard all my life — growing cotton till the crops failed, and now paddy. I married off four children, lost a daughter-in-law, and still run this house. But I will not step back from this fight. My honour is not for sale.”

Her words carry neither anger nor bitterness — just the quiet conviction of someone who has tilled the land long enough to know that persistence yields the real harvest.

Fighting from the fields to the courtroom

Kaur could not be present in court on Monday due to her son’s illness. Instead, her husband appeared on her behalf. Their lawyer, advocate Raghubir Singh Behniwal, himself a long-time BJP member, says the case transcends political lines.

“Some people questioned whether I would represent her properly because of my political background,” he says. “But I was equally hurt by what was said about the mothers of Punjab. This case is about dignity. The family never missed a hearing despite their hardships.”

Behniwal insists the legal battle will continue despite Ranaut’s apology: “We will not accept any apology outside the court. The case will be contested fully.”

More than a case — a message

For Kaur, the court summons and media glare mean little. Her fight is not against a celebrity but against the casual cruelty of stereotypes that belittle farmers, especially women.

As she lights her evening chulha and tends to her family, she says quietly, “We may not have money or fame. But we have our honour. And that is enough to fight for.”

The next hearing is scheduled for November 24 — another date in the legal calendar, but for Mohinder Kaur, a continuing chapter in her story of quiet resilience and self-respect.