Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa sues newspaper for defamation
Allegations made in the news items were false and published without verification
Chennai: A day after Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa filed a defamation case against BJP leader Dr Subramaniam Swamy, she filed another libel case against him on Tuesday for making remarks against her. A defamation case was also registered against the editor (Chennai) and publisher of an English daily (The Times of India) for publishing Swamy’s statement.
On behalf of the Chief Minister, City Public Prosecutor M.L. Jegan filed the defamation case in the Principal Sessions court. In the petition, Jegan stated that an article titled Swamy hits back, says boats owned by Baalu, Sasikala, published in the daily on September 4, was highly derogatory. The allegations made in the news item were false and published without verification. It cast aspersions on the government, harmed the reputation of the Chief Minister and was not published in good faith, he added. Hence, they were liable for punishment under sections 500 and 501 of the IPC.
On Monday, Jayalalithaa filed a defamation case in the Principal Sessions court against Swamy and a Tamil daily, Dinamalar, for publishing the same news item.