The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable who allegedly slapped Mandi MP and actor Kangana Ranaut at the Chandigarh airport for “disrespecting farmers” has been suspended, police said. A police case has also been filed against her.
Ms Ranaut was on the way to board a flight to Delhi after being elected from the Himachal Pradesh constituency in the Lok Sabha Elections when the incident happened.
Kulwinder Kaur, the accused constable, said an old statement by Ms Ranaut triggered her actions.
“She gave a statement… that farmers are sitting there for ₹ 100. Will she go and sit there? My mother was sitting there and protesting when she gave this statement…,” she said, referring to the farmers’ protest in 2020 against the three farm laws passed by the Centre.
During the height of a nationwide agitation, Ms Ranaut had remarked in a social media post that an elderly woman at a protest site was being paid ₹ 100 to sit there. After facing widespread backlash, the actor had to delete it.
In a video, recorded by onlookers at the airport, the Mandi MP can be seen escorted to the security checkpoint where the incident occurred. However, as she reaches the area, an argument breaks out and she is then escorted away. The video does not capture the alleged slap.
Hours after the incident, the actor took to X and shared a video message about what occurred at the airport. “The incident happened at the security check-in. The woman guard waited for me to cross. She then came and hit me… started throwing expletives. I asked (her) why she hit me. She said, ‘I support farmers’. I am safe… but my concern is terrorism is rising in Punjab. How do we handle that?” she said in the video.
The actor faced online backlash in February 2021 after she responded to a post by singer Rihanna on the farmers’ protest. “Why aren’t we talking about this?”, the pop icon said while sharing a video of the farmers protesting.
Ms Ranaut hit out at the post by labelling the protestors as “terrorists”. “No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like the USA… Sit down you fool, we are not selling our nation like you dummies,” she said.
However, she later deleted that post.
The farmers’ protest that began in 2020/21 made headlines in India and across the world. Ms Ranaut made several posts slamming the protests and raising questions over the legitimacy of the agitation, often hitting out at the protesters.
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During her campaign, her convoy was blocked by agitators in Chandigarh over her comments.