The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a defamation case against Union Minister of State L Murugan based on a complaint by the managing trust of Murasoli, the mouthpiece of Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan closed the proceedings after Murugan stated that he had no intention of damaging the reputation of the trust. The bench then made such a statement that it did not want to proceed with the case.
After the Madras High Court refused to dismiss the private complaint in September 2023, Murugan approached the SC and allowed the trial.
The complaint stemmed from a comment made by a BJP leader at a press conference indicating that the trust’s office in Kodambakkam was located on Panchami land reserved for Scheduled Castes. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is one of the managing trustees of the Murasoli Trust.
Hearing the case on Wednesday, the bench said people “cannot be oversensitive” in politics. Justice Gawai said, “When you enter politics, you should be ready to hear something about yourself.”
The bench also suggested Murugan to depose in the court that he did not intend to defame the trust or its members.
Accordingly, senior advocate K Paramesh appeared for Murugan and said his client “never intended to defame the respondent trust or cause any loss/damage to the reputation of the said trust.” He said the statement was made only on Murugan’s “capacity to be a leader of a political party” and there was no intention to cause any harm/injury to the trust’s reputation.
The bench took the statement.
Appearing for the trust, senior advocates NR Elango and Siddharth Luthra “kindly state that since the petitioner has made it clear that there is no intention to defame the trust or cause harm/damage to the trust, they do not intend to proceed with the prosecution.”