CHENNAI: In a setback to MDMK leader
Vaiko, the
Madras high court has refused to quash criminal defamation proceedings initiated against him by the then DMK government in 2006. It was initiated for Vaiko’s reported, derogatory remarks against then chief minister M
Karunanidhi.
However, the court quashed the proceedings of another defamation case initiated by the DMK government in 2009 against Vaiko. The first case relates to the alleged statement by Vaiko against then chief minister Karunanidhi published in an English daily on December 25, 2006.
Dismissing the petition, Justice PN Prakash noted that from the evidence of the five witnesses who had deposed before the trial court, “this court cannot conclude that no case against the accused has been made out, which, if unrebutted, would not end in his conviction.”
The second case pertained to a statement made by Vaiko published in a Tamil daily on May 31, 2009. In the statement, Vaiko attributed the attack on the office of director Bharathiraja to the then chief minister Karunanidhi.
Quashing the proceedings, the Justice Prakash said: “The impugned statements attribute the attack to the then chief minister and nothing more. The route to prosecute a person for defamation can be resorted to only if it is shown that the imputation is qua the conduct of the public servant in the discharge of his public functions and not otherwise.”