Nithyananda Swamy dispensed of personal appearance in defamation case

 

Justice K. B. K. Vasuki also ordered notice to Arjun Sampath and posted to September 18, further hearing of the petition filed by Nithyananda. 

After Nithyananda allegedly made some defamatory remarks against Arjun Sampath during a press conference in Chennai in 2011 about his marriage, Arjun Sampath had filed a defamatory complaint against him.

 

In his petition, Nithyananda submitted that there were no substantive materials produced by Arjun Sampath warranting initiation of criminal case against him. Mere private press publications or TV Channel news were not substantive evidence to take cognizance of any offence punishable under the law. In the present case, without application of mind to the statutes, facts and materials, the complaint has been preferred against the petitioner.

 

The judicial magistrate has taken cognizance of the complaint and had taken it on file after a period of three years from the date of alleged occurrence. The magistrate issued summons to the petitioner to appear on September 3, he added.

 

He said mere reading of the complaint would clearly establish the fact that the present complaint has been preferred with extraneous consideration and to gain tweet publicity. The complaint was said to have been preferred based on paper publications.

 

Therefore, the complaint preferred by Arjun Sampath and the process issued by the Judicial Magistrate-I was ex-facie illegal and without jurisdiction. The present complaint against him was false, fabricated, motivated and the same has been lodged to gain public popularity, he added.