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Kodanad incident: Plea seeks quashing of CM’s defamation suit
The Madras High Court has been moved seeking to quash the defamation suit filed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami against Narada News, journalist Mathew Samuel, which sought damages to the tune of Rs 1.10 crore for alleging his involvement in a murder-cum-dacoit incident at former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad Estate residence.
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Chennai
Justice R Subramanian, before whom the plea moved by Samuel came up for hearing on Wednesday, adjourned the same to July 4 after the counsel appearing for Palaniswami sought time to make submissions on the plea seeking to reject the plaint.
In his petition, Samuel had submitted that the investigative documentary he had produced on the Kodanad incident that took place on April 23, 2017,was an exercise of his right to free speech and practice his profession, both of which are constitutionally protected.
Palaniswami had moved the plaint alleging that his reputation was lowered, which is essential for establishing a defamation suit. However, he does not name any person who saw or heard the alleged defamatory statements, and in whose eyes his reputation stood lowered.
“Therefore, the Chief Minister has not even prima facie established a cause of action to sustain a suit for defamation and that he does not allege his reputation was lowered due to the alleged statements. Rather, they were likely to lower his reputation during the elections and thus hurt his party’s prospects,” Samuel said.
The journalist also noted that the suit was aimed at harassing a law-abiding individual for exercising his constitutional rights and prevent the people of Tamil Nadu from knowing the truth about Palaniswami’s public life and his ‘Machiavellian machinations’.
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