The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to release persons arrested for sharing information about the health status of ailing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on social media.
Initially during the hearing, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy expressed incredulity at the arrests, asking “Are they really arrested for these kind of cases? Can’t they be dealt in a different way?”
However, the court refrained from intervening, saying no cases had been registered under criminal defamation so far.
The court was hearing an application filed by Tamil Nadu resident K.R. Ramaswamy, through advocate G.S. Mani, seeking to bar the State from arresting citizens for sharing information on Ms. Jayalalithaa's health condition.
The apex court nevertheless gave Mr. Ramaswamy liberty to seek recourse under law in future.
“The present application does not relate to criminal defamation at all. He has challenged arrest by the State government of certain persons solely because they said certain things which prosecution says is wrong,” Justice Misra observed in the short order.
“They were arrested according to the State for ‘spreading rumours’ online... that is a vague charge to deny a citizen his personal liberty,” advocate Mani argued.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivdei submitted that the persons arrested were spreading “false information” and this was a serious matter.
‘No case registered under criminal defamation and petitioner can seek recourse under law’
