The Madras High Court on Monday stayed all further proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by the State government against activist Jayaram Venkatesan, managing trustee of non-governmental organisation Arappor Iyakkam, for having accused Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani of corruption in awarding Corporation contracts.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh granted the interim stay on a petition filed by the activist to quash the proceedings.
Advocate V. Suresh brought it to the notice of the court that the City Public Prosecutor had filed the case before the Principal Sessions Court on the basis of the sanction accorded for criminal prosecution by the government on June 3.
The allegation against the activist was that he participated in a television debate on December 7 and levelled allegations of corruption against the Minister, who “was held in high esteem by all sections of people in the State, irrespective of their caste, community, race or religion.”
According to the complaint, the people had Mr. Velumani as a Member of the Legislative Assembly during the 2016 elections and he enjoyed a very high reputation among them. When such were the circumstances, the activist had made “defamatory, scandalous, disparaging and highly provocative” statements against the Minister in the television debate last year, it claimed.
