Whether calling a Chief Minister “corrupt” amounted to criminal defamation or not was the crux of a debate between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s lawyers and the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
“You can’t call a Chief Minister ‘corrupt’ and then say there is no defamation,” senior advocate L. Nageshwar Rao told a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant.
Justice Misra reacted saying that “then there cannot be any criticism in this country”.
“Saying corrupt is all right,” Justice Misra remarked.
But Mr. Rao persisted that comments in the nature of a personal attack of the Chief Minister amounted to defamation.
The exchange came on a petition filed by DMDK founder and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Vijayakanth against criminal defamation cases filed against him in various courts in Tamil Nadu.
The petition by Mr. Vijayakanth, represented by advocate G.S. Mani, was part of a batch led by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and diverse leaders seeking decriminalisation of defamation.
Penal provisions of defamation amounted to a chilling effect on free speech, and thus unconstitutional, they had argued.
“Why should this court give an exception to people who have come here to this court? Why show this exception to people who speak about somebody’s personal life? The comments in question ranged from accusation of sand mining to making Rs.100 crore of illegal benefits... It is all right to criticise the government, but these comments are personal,” Mr. Rao submitted.
Incidentally, the Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha, also agreed with Ms. Jayalalithaa’s side that the cases “should go to trial”.
The court then reserved the petition for final orders.
Saying someone is corrupt is all right: Justice Misra
