A sessions court here on Wednesday ordered issue of summons to N. Ram, former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and B. Kolappan, Special Correspondent, for their appearance on March 5 on a complaint by the City Public Prosecutor (CPP), on behalf of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, for publishing a news item, which “defamed” her.
In the complaint, the CPP stated that the newspaper, while reporting the attack on the office of Nakkheeran here on January 7, purportedly repeated an article, which had appeared in the Tamil bi-weekly, relating to the Chief Minister.
The impugned news item has been “published by the accused solely with the intent to malign the reputation of the Hon'ble Chief Minister in the discharge of her functions and duties.”
The complainant prayed the court to punish the accused for alleged offences under Sections 500 and 501 IPC. Mr. Kolappan, author of the news item, and Mr. Ram have been cited as accused in the complaint.
Taking the complaint on file, Principal Sessions Judge (PSJ) P. Kalaiyarasan ordered issue of summons to the two for their appearance. The PSJ also ordered issue of summons for the appearance of Nakkheeran Gopal, Printer, Publisher and Editor, A. Kamaraj, Joint Editor, and Umarmukhtat, reporter of the bi-weekly, on March 1.
