Petition to reopen AIADMK leader's defamation case rejected by Supreme Court
Supreme Court: A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti refused to interfere with the order of the Madras High Court dated October 25, 2023, in which the defamation case against Appavu was quashed.
The Supreme Court refused to hear the petition of the Joint Secretary of the All India AIADMK Lawyers Association on Thursday. In this petition, he demanded to reopen the defamation case against the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker. In fact, earlier the High Court had dismissed the defamation case filed by M. Babu Murugavel against Speaker M Appavu. Murugavel had approached the Supreme Court against this.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti refused to interfere with the Madras High Court's October 25, 2023 order quashing the defamation case against Appavu. The bench said, "We have anti-defection law, which shows that democracy and legislature respect such incidents in the political system."
In his complaint, Murugavel alleged that Appavu made derogatory remarks against AIADMK leaders during a book launch in November 2023. Appavu had said 40 MLAs were prepared to join the DMK after the death of the party chief J. Jayalalithaa in December 2016. He was booked under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC in this case.
Senior advocate S. Murugavel, appearing for Nagamuthu, argued that the statement was attributed to his client only with a view to damage the image of the ruling AIADMK. However, the bench was unimpressed with his submission. The lawyer later withdrew his petition in the case and the same was closed.
