The Supreme Court has again reprimanded Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for using defamation cases to what it described as throttling democracy and asked her to face criticism as she was a public figure.
The bench said, Government cannot use state machinery to file criminal defamation cases against political opponents.The bench asserted, it should focus more on good governance. The court’s observations came on a petition filed by DMDK chief A Vijayakanth seeking quashing of defamation cases filed against him by state government.
The bench issued fresh summons against the public prosecutor and posted the matter for further hearing on September 21. The apex court had on July 28 said defamation cases should not be used as a political counter weapon against the critics of governments. It had stayed non-bailable warrants issued against the actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth and his wife Premlata in such matters.