Quash defamation case, Kanimozhi urges HC
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Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M.K. Kanimozhi on Friday took sturdy exception to a legal defamation case booked towards her for allegedly accusing Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of encouraging corruption, and urged the Madras High Court to quash the case.
Appearing earlier than Justice N. Sathish Kumar, senior counsel P. Wilson mentioned the defamation case had been filed by a public prosecutor on the occasion of the State authorities for a public speech delivered by Ms. Kanimozhi in Tindivanam on September 18, 2018.
Role as watchdog
Stating that the function of the Opposition was that of a watchdog in a democracy, the counsel puzzled how legal defamation circumstances could possibly be slapped towards Opposition leaders for having discharged their duties as elected representatives of the individuals.
He mentioned slapping of such circumstances amounted to stifling the correct to freedom of speech and expression. Attacking the prosecution on technical grounds too, he mentioned Ms. Kanimozhi had solely used the phrase “Edappadi” in her speech, although the title of the Chief Minister was K. Palaniswami.
“Edappadi is actually the name of a place. It need not necessarily refer to the Chief Minister. Even a government order issued for launching the prosecution does not mention the name of the Chief Minister. It only says honourable Chief Minister,” the counsel identified.
On the opposite hand, State public prosecutor (SPP) A. Natarajan requested whether or not using the time period “Kalaignar” would confer with former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi or not.
“Similarly, even a small child in the State will know that Edappadi refers only to the honourable Chief Minister,” he mentioned.
The SPP additionally mentioned the petitioner had accused the incumbent AIADMK authorities of being corrupt and said that the Chief Minister could possibly be given the title of “corruption king”. This squarely falls throughout the area of legal defamation, he mentioned, opposing the quash petition.
After listening to each, the choose directed the High Court Registry to listing the case on December 18 for submitting Supreme Court rulings on the difficulty.
