CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday stayed all proceedings pertaining to the criminal defamation complaint filed by the State against Jayaram Venkatesh, founder of Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO.
The complaint was filed by the Chennai city public prosecutor over an alleged offence under Section 499 (criminal defamation) of the IPC. The alleged offence was Jayaram’s social media posts on former Chennai police commissioner AK Viswanathan for refusing permission to organise a demonstration against the alleged Rs 1,500 crore ration scam.
While admitting Jayaram’s plea challenging the complaint, Justice N Anand Venkatesh passed an interim order staying the proceedings before the Chennai principal sessions judge, and directed the prosecution to respond to the plea in six weeks.