CHENNAI: Observing that political party functionaries should speak responsibly and show tolerance towards criticism, the Madras High Court on Thursday quashed four defamation cases moved by the State against DMK president MK Stalin.
The issue pertains to Stalin’s comments against former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in connection with her stay in Kodanad in 2012 and alleged inaction during the 2015 Chennai floods. The court quashed the cases from a batch of 12 criminal defamation cases initiated by the AIADMK government against Stalin.
During the hearing on Thursday, State public prosecutor A Natarajan submitted that the case was initiated after the DMK chief said that Jayalalithaa went to Kodanad on vacation while people were suffering in the State. The State public prosecutor also referred to the Supreme Court recently ruling contempt of court against civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan for tweeting that the Chief Justice of India was on vacation.
Refusing to accept the submissions, Justice N Sathish Kumar said that Stalin’s statement in no way prevented the former CM from carrying out her official duties. “Persons in public life should develop tolerance towards criticism.
They must be responsible while making public speeches and should desist from levelling personnel attacks,” he observed. The cases were taken up after the suo motu PIL was initiated by the first bench of the court headed by Chief Justice AP Sahi to monitor and review cases pending against MPs and MLAs.