CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday quashed nine criminal defamation cases filed by the AIADMK government against political leaders, including BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, MLA Senthil Balaji, TM Selvaganapathy and TPM Mydeen Khan.
The issue pertains to alleged derogatory remarks made by Swamy and other leaders against former Chief Minister Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The judge quashed the cases saying that the statements in no way prevented her from discharging official duty and all the criticism were made only against the government and not the individual.
The cases were taken up for final hearing in view of a suo motu PIL petition initiated by the first bench of the court headed by Chief Justice AP Sahi to monitor and review cases pending against MPs and MLAs.
The proceeding was initiated in view of a direction issued by the apex court in on a plea seeking direction to the Centre to take steps to debar the person convicted for offences under the Representation of the People Act from contesting in MLA or MP election.