The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed a criminal defamation case filed against former Chief Ministers Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam by expelled All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam spokesperson Va. Pugazhendi before a special court for hearing cases against legislators.
Justice M. Nirmal Kumar allowed the quash petitions filed by the duo and agreed with senior counsel A. Natarajan and Vijay Narayan that the complainant had not made out any case of defamation and therefore the special court was wrong in having issued summons to the two former Chief Ministers.
It was the case of the complainant that he was expelled from the party, out of the blue, on June 14, 2021. The two leaders, in their capacity as co-cooordinator and coordinator of the party, issued a statement accusing him of indulging in anti party activities and asking the cadres not to have any association with him.
