A day after a judicial magistrate in Udhagamandalam issued non-bailable warrants against eight Tamil actors, including Suriya and Sarathkumar, after they failed to appear in connection with a defamation case, Justice S. Vimala of the Madras High Court on Thursday passed an interim direction to keep the execution of the warrants in abeyance till further orders.
The judge also ordered notice to the parties concerned in a criminal restoration plea moved by the actors and adjourned the matters by two weeks
The issue pertains to a complaint filed by journalist Rozario Maria Soosai of Udhagamandalam against actors — Suriya, Sarathkumar, Sathyaraj, Vivekh, Arun Vijay, Sri Priya, Cheran and Vijay Kumar — for allegedly making statements degrading the reputation of a leading Tamil news daily and a journalist attached to it on October 7, 2009, during a meeting of the South Indian Film Artistes Association.
The actors were reportedly angered by reports carried by the newspaper which alleged that prostitution was rife in the Tamil film industry, following the arrest of an actor. Mr. Rozario filed a criminal defamation complaint on November 13, 2009, against the eight actors.
