HC stays defamation case against founder of anti-graft NGO

HC stays defamation case against founder of anti-graft NGO

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.03.2021

In a reprieve to anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam, the Madras high court stayed all further proceedings of a criminal defamation complaint slapped by the Tamil Nadu government against the NGO’s founder.

The complaint was made against Jayaram Venkatesh for his alleged social media posts against former Chennai city commissioner of police A K Viswanathan for refusing permission to organise a demonstration to expose Rs 1,500 crore ration scam.

While admitting the plea moved by Jayaram challenging the complaint, Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed an interim order staying the proceeding before the Chennai principal sessions judge and directed the prosecution to respond to the plea in six weeks.

The petitioner said the complaint was filed by the Chennai city public prosecutor for alleged offence under section 499 (criminal defamation) of IPC. The complaint was made for his social media post dated March 9, 2020 allegedly defaming the then city police commissioner. In the complaint, the prosecutor had alleged the contents of the post were mischievous, intentionally spoken to malign reputation and tarnish the image of Viswanathan.