CHENNAI: A defamation case filed by the previous AIADMK government against a DMK MP, S R Parthiban, for his alleged defamatory speech against then chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy in Salem in August 2019, has been quashed by the Madras high court.
Justice M Nirmal Kumar, before whom the petition came up for hearing, said though the government had passed a GO for withdrawal of case, the Supreme Court had issued certain guidelines to check misuse of prosecutor’s power in withdrawing cases.
Justice Nirmal Kumar noted that in the case of sitting former MPs and MLAs, directions have been issued that no prosecution case shall be withdrawn without the permission of the high court.
The court noted that the petitioner belonged to the then Opposition party and that the allegations made in his speech were personal in nature and no way pertained to the public functioning of the then chief minister. He then held that the complaint filed before the principal district and sessions court in Salem shall be quashed.
Earlier, counsel for the MP submitted that the trial court, before taking the defamation complaint on file, failed to take note that the complaint itself was a politically motivated one to wreak vengeance against the DMK and that Parthiban had spoken only the view of the general public and it was not his personal view.
The public prosecutor submitted that the present government had issued a government order (GO) dated August 10, 2021 on the recommendations of the advocate general and that the government has opined that all defamation cases be withdrawn.
