Action against journalists stayed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday granted an interim stay on further proceedings against the Editor-in-Chief, Printer and Publisher of an English language newspaper, and one of its senior reporters, before the Principal Sessions Judge here, for publishing a news item in the daily on January 8 this year about the attack on a Tamil bi-weekly ‘Nakkheeran’, which contained defamatory comments against CM J Jayalalithaa.Passing interim orders on petitions filed by the two journalists, Justice S Rajeswaran ordered the notice. The Judge dispensed with the personal appearance of the petitioners before the Principal Sessions Judge.The petitioners submitted that the news item published in Nakkheeran was already in public domain with both the print and television media exhaustively reporting on the news item and the subsequent events/incidents. They also said that the newspaper had reported the same factually, accurately and truthfully, without any intention to malign or defame the CM. The editor and the author of the report challenged the validity of Sections 499 (Defamation), 500 (Punishment for defamation) and 501 (Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) IPC.