The Madras High Court on Monday reserved its verdict on a public interest litigation petition which sought to restrain the exhibition of Gowtham Vasudev Menon’s web series Queen, a fictional rendition based on former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s life, until the completion of the local body elections in the State.
Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha deferred their judgment after questioning the bonafides of the petitioner P.A. Joseph who claimed to be a businessman in his affidavit but was the president of a daily wage labourers’ association at Koyambedu market here.
Senior counsel Satish Parasaran, representing the director and video streaming operator MX Player, told the court that there was more than what meets the eye in the case since the PIL petitioner had also filed cases against Justice Arumughaswamy Commission which probed into the death of Jayalalithaa.
Pointing out that a single judge of the High Court had recently rejected a plea made by Jayalalithaa’s niece J. Deepa to restrain the release of the web series, the counsel said the present petition was filed immediately after that order.
Stating that already 11 episodes had been released and anyone could watch it for free after downloading MX Player application on their mobile phones, Mr. Parasaran wondered whether all movies of M.G. Ramachandran and other actor turned politicians would also be banned during the local body polls.
Senior counsel AR.L. Sundaresan, representing the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, told the court that the commission would take a call on a representation made by the petitioner after ascertaining whether the web series was fictional and whether it would have any bearing on the polls.
