Court adjourns Karunanidhi defamation case to March 10

Chennai, Jan 18: A court on Monday adjourned to March 10 hearing in a defamation case filed against DMK supremo M Karunanidhi by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

Principal Sessions Court Judge N Audinathan took about a minute to record the appearance of 92-year-old Karunanidhi, who came in a wheelchair along with his lawyers.

Karunanidhi's son and party Treasurer M K Stalin, daughter and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi besides senior party leaders T R Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, Duraimurugan and Arcot Veerasamy, were also present. The court premises were jampacked with over 1500 party workers and DMK lawyers thronging it. [Karunanidhi appears in court in defamation case]

Police had a tough time controlling the crowd. Principal Sessions Judge N Audhinathan had last month directed Karunanidhi to appear before the court on January 18 in connection with an alleged defamatory article published in the party mouthpiece "Murasoli" in November about the AIADMK Government's four-year rule.

The court had also summoned Murasoli's Editor, Printer and Publisher S Selvam to appear on the same day in this regard. The issue pertains to Karunanidhi quoting from an article in Tamil bi-weekly Ananda Vikatan's November 25, 2015 issue on the matter.

Writing in party mouthpiece 'Murasoli', the DMK chief had cited the article which had made a critical assessment of the four year-old AIADMK government's performance.

In a reply to a question on whether the DMK should unite with other political parties in fighting the defamation cases filed by the state government, Karunanidhi said he would not compel anyone to do so. "It is for them whether they want to take any such decisions. I will abide by that," he told reporters.

When asked about the defamation cases filed by the state government, Karunanidhi said even the Supreme Court had a few months ago made a mention on the issue. "..I have nothing new to say. Justice will prevail, and people should unite behind justice," Karunanidhi said.

He alleged that defamation cases are filed for "anything you mention about the state Government." Asked about his message to the people of Tamil Nadu, he said people of the state must unite forgetting the political differences for the progress of the state.

PTI