CHENNAI: DMK treasurer MK Stalin on Sunday criticised the State government’s opposition to the deletion of Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC that vested a range of powers to file defamation cases against opposition parties and media.
In a statement here, he said “In a democracy, opposition parties have the right to criticise. The previous DMK government had always stood by freedom of expression encouraging free and fearless debate both inside and outside the TN Assembly.”
In the Supreme Court, the State government had justified the slapping of innumerable defamation cases both against opposition parties and the media, he said and appealed to the State Government not to oppose the deletion of the respective sections and withdraw all defamation cases against opposition parties and the media, allowing free exchange of views in the interest of democracy.