Defamation: HC Reserves Orders On TN Assembly Speaker's Petition

The Madras High Court reserved orders on a petition filed by TN Assembly Speaker M Appavu, seeking to quash a defamation complaint pending against him.

Chennai:The Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved orders on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu, seeking to quash a defamation complaint pending against him before a Special Court here. Justice G Jayachandran reserved orders without specifying any date, on the petition filed by Appavu. He sought to quash the defamation complaint filed by AIADMK Advocates wing Joint Secretary M Babu Murugavel.

When the case came up for hearing, Senior Counsel P Wilson, appearing for Appavu submitted that the statement allegedly made by the Speaker at the most can be termed as an information and it was not directed against the complainant.

In his petition, Appavu submitted that in his complaint, Babu Murugavel alleged that the petitioner at a book release function here in November last year had defamed the AIADMK by claiming 40 MLAs belonging to the party were ready to switch over to the DMK after the demise of its late leader J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.

Appavu said Babu Murugavel has therefore claimed the petitioner has committed an offence under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 of the IPC by virtue of this speech.

Wilson contended the statement was against the 40 MLAs and none of their names was mentioned. The complainant has no locus standi to file the complaint. This incident happened between 2015 and 2016. At that time, the complainant himself was not in the AIADMK and had joined the party in 2018, Wilson added.

He said the complainant was not an aggrieved party. Even if the AIADMK was the aggrieved party, the complainant has no locus standi to file the complaint. The party has not authorised him to file the complaint, he added.

Senior counsel John Sathyan, appearing for Babu Murugavel submitted that the complainant was appointed as a spokesperson by the AIADMK. The complainant was the Joint Secretary of the AIADMK legal wing.

Moreover, the complainant was one among the members of the legal advisory committee of the party. Therefore, he has every locus standi to file the complaint, he added.

John Sathyan said when Appavu has given a baseless statement, the complainant has to file the complaint because he was holding a responsible position in the party. The statement will demoralize the MLAs, he added.

The petitioner said a reading of the private complaint reveals that it was illegal and on the face of it, inherently improbable and actuated by political motives and therefore the complaint filed by the complainant pending on the file of the Court of Assistant Sessions Judge/ Additional Special Court for Trial of Cases related to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Chennai was liable to be quashed. PTI CORR SA