BATHINDA, Dec. 5 -- A septuagenarian woman, Mahinder Kaur, recorded her statement and submitted documentary evidence before a special court in Bathinda in a defamation case against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian from Mandi and actor Kangana Ranaut on Thursday. Judicial magistrate 1st class (JMIC) Inderjeet Singh recorded the proceedings in camera in his special court designated to handle cases against MPs and MLAs. A defamation case was filed by Kaur in 2021, alleging that Kangana defamed her in a post on the social media platform X by wrongly identifying her as a Shaheen Bagh protester, Bilkis Bano, and suggesting that such women could be hired to protest for Rs.100. Kangana did not appear virtually on Thursday and her counsel forwarded an application for exemption from appearing in the court. The court will decide on the plea on December 15. RS Behniwal, counsel of Kaur, a native of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda, said that the statements of the complainant and her relative Gurpreet Singh were recorded before the court. Behniwal said a copy of a contentious social media post of Kangana and other material evidence were submitted in the special court. "The court announced to record the statements without the presence of the general public or any other person due to the sensitivity of the matter. The case will now be heard on December 15 for cross-examination of the complainant and Gurpreet," said the counsel. During the last hearing held on November 24, the JMIC had served a notice of accusation to Kangana. In the last hearing, she was allowed to be exempted from personal appearance only for one day after Kangana had moved an application citing her engagement in the winter session of the Parliament....