Actor Jayaprada and other partners of the now defunct Jayaprada cine theatre in Chennai suffered a major blow on Friday with the Madras High Court dismissing their plea to suspend the six month simple imprisonment imposed on them by a Metropolitan Magistrate in Chennai on August 10, 2023 for having not paid Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) dues.
Justice G. Jayachandran held that the track record of the case justifies the dismissal of the present petitions filed by the convicts challenging the refusal of the Principal Sessions Court to suspend the sentence. He pointed out that the partners had successfully prolonged the issue for 18 long years by filing petitions after petitions to delay the payment of statutory dues.
Further, he took serious note of the convicts not having appeared before the Magistrate even on the day of pronouncement of judgement forcing the judicial officer to issue non bailable arrest warrants against them. They had neither appeared before the principal sessions court while seeking suspension of sentence in September this year, he pointed out.
