Madras High Court quashes defamation case against AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam

Chennai: Madras High Court has quashed a defamation case against AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu law minister, C. Ve. Shanmugam, who was accused of making defamatory remarks against Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during a public speech in 2022.

The single bench judge of the Madras High Court, Justice Anand Venkatesh while quashing the case against the former minister, said that the comments made by Shanmugam were unacceptable.

However, the court questioned the police and made adverse comments for filing the case under more serious sections that include inciting violence as also disturbing public peace.

Senior counsel, N. Vijay Narayanan, appearing for the former minister, contended that the petitioner had not defamed the Chief Minister as a person but had criticised the state.

The counsel also said that it was his client’s duty as a leader of the opposition party to oppose the malfunctioning of the state. He said that the state should be tolerant and should not behave impulsively.

The counsel representing Tamil Nadu Police said that the police have registered a case under such sections as the speech of the former minister could have incited conflict between two factions in politics that may lead to disturbing public peace.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court quashed the defamation case against the former minister.

Earlier in January this year, the Madras High Court had quashed two cases filed by the state government against C. Ve. Shanmugam, currently a Rajya Sabha MP.

Vijay Narayanan, appearing for the AlADMK leader, argued that the DMK government had filed false cases against his client for having exposed the mismanagement and malfunctioning of the state.

The counsel for the former minister argued that his client had not defamed the Chief Minister as a person but criticised the government under the Chief Minister on its misdemeanours.

However, Advocate General P.S. Raman stated that C. Ve. Shanmugam had in fact directly defamed the Chief Minister. The A-G also produced a tape of the speech of the AIADMK leader.

Allowing the plea of C. Ve. Shanmugam, Justice Anand Venkatesh quashed the cases.