The Madras High Court on Friday issued notices returnable by January 29 to DMK youth wing leader Udhayanidhi Stalin and Kalaignar TV on a defamation suit preferred by Deputy Speaker Pollachi V. Jayaraman for having linked his name with the Pollachi serial sexual assault and blackmailing case.
Justice R. Pongiappan told plaintiff’s counsel S.R. Rajagopal that the plea for an injunction restraining the DMK leader from making defamatory imputations in future could be considered only after hearing the latter.
He permitted counsel to serve a private notice and decided to hear the case after a week. During the hearing, the judge wondered whether such defamation suits must be entertained as they might encourage more such suits, especially when campaigning for the upcoming Assembly poll has already begun. Almost all politicians were making only wild allegations against each other, the judge said.
However, Mr. Rajagopal convinced the judge that the plaintiff must be allowed to resort to a common legal remedy since his image had been deliberately maligned by linking his name with a case being probed by the CBI. The DMK leader had indulged in character assassination, he claimed.
In a complaint filed through his counsel on record B. Arvind Srevatsa, the Deputy Speaker stated that he had absolutely no connection with the case and the charges levelled against him by the DMK youth wing leader in a speech made at Manachanallur in Tiruchi on January 7 were false, baseless, misleading and defamatory.
Stating that Kalaignar TV had uploaded the speech on its YouTube channel, the plaintiff sought a direction to the DMK leader and the television channel management to jointly pay him ₹1 crore as damages. He also sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from making such defamatory speeches in the future.
