DMK demands Rs 100 crore from Tamil Nadu BJP chief for defaming CM Stalin
India Today
DMK leader RS Bharati has sought Rs 100 crore in damages and an apology from Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai for making defamatory statements against CM Stalin.
RS Bharati, the organising secretary of DMK, has sent a legal notice to Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai over the latter’s “defamatory, false, and scandalous” remarks against Chief Minister MK Stalin during a protest by the saffron party in Virudhunagar.
"It is well settled that right to freedom of speech and expression is subjectto reasonable restrictions which include defamation of a person. Your action of making wild, false, baseless and defamatory allegations with scandalous imputations against the DMK President/ CM MK Stalin attracts penal provisions under Section 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code,” reads the legal notice.
It added that Annamalai is also liable to be prosecuted under Section 199 of the CrPC since he allegedly “made defamatory statements against the chief minister in the discharge of his public duties” which cause damage to his reputation.
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The legal notice demanded that K Annamalai must tender an unconditional public apology to CM Stalin within 24 hours and pay damages to the tune of Rs 100 crore in the Chief Minister’s Relief Funds in the next two days. Failing to do so would result in civil and criminal proceedings against the BJP state unit president.
Addressing BJP workers in Virudhunagar, Annamalai alleged that CM Stalin went to Dubai to deposit his money there. “Such allegations are per se baseless and highly defamatory. Our client states that even a layman knows that the Dubai Expo 2022 is currently taking place and that the Chief Minister is attending the same in the interest of the state to attract investments,” the notice states
“Our client states that you have made these statements as a cheap publicity stunt and nothing more, with a view to gain political mileage at the expense of the reputation and image of the DMK President/ Chief Minister MK Stalin. One can only conclude that these statements besides being defamatory are anti-national, and liable to be dealt with as seditious, since you are attempting to sabotage foreign investments into India," the notice adds.
