Read Kerala HC order on defamation, Madras High Court tells DMK, EPS

CHENNAI: The ruling DMK and opposition leader and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami should read a recent judgment of the Kerala High Court to understand the extent to which the constitutionally guaranteed right to speech and expression is applicable when it comes to a pending criminal case, said the Madras High Court on Friday.

The court was hearing a defamation suit filed by the DMK against Palaniswami for his comments linking it to Jaffer Sadiq, an alleged drug kingpin who was expelled from the party after the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested him. The party sought Rs 1 crore from the opposition leader as cost for damages.

When the case came up for hearing before Justice G Jayachandran of the Madras High Court on Friday, advocate S Manuraj representing the DMK submitted that all the documents and papers connected to the petition was served to Palaniswami.

The judge then asked both parties to go through the recent judgment delivered by the full bench of Kerala High Court, headed by Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar, in Dejo Kappan vs Deccan Herald case.

In that case, the bench had held that media reporting about a pending criminal case would not be protected under the freedom of speech and expression conferred in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution if the accused felt that such reports infringed his/her image. The accused could approach the court to seek legal recourse, the Kerala High Court had said.

According to Justice Jayachandran, the bench delivered an “excellent” judgment, which he said would be the guiding principle for the cases of similar nature in future. He then asked both parties to study the judgment in detail to understand to what extent a person can comment about a criminal case that is pending under trial.

The matter was posted to December 3 for further submission and hearing.

Jaffer Sadiq, who was arrested by the NCB for being the alleged kingpin of the international narcotics trafficking ring that smuggled pseudoephedrine to Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Noting that Jaffer was the deputy organiser of the DMK’s NRI wing, Palaniswami had alleged that Chief Minister MK Stalin and deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin were closely associated with the alleged drug lord.

On his social media handle, the AIADMK leader published several posts alleging that the law and order machinery has completely broken down in Tamil Nadu, which, he alleged, has become the drug capital of India.

Aggrieved by this, DMK moved the defamation case claiming that Palaniswami defamed the party with baseless allegations to tarnish its public image. In order to avenge the continuous political loss that he suffered at the hands of the ruling party, Palaniswami was throwing allegations against DMK for political mileage, said the complaint.

The party denied all the allegations and submitted that Jaffer Sadiq was not connected with the party in any way and that it had no links to his activities. It also pointed out that Jaffer was removed from his post as Chennai west deputy coordinator of DMK much before his arrest.