Chennai: Keeping the promise he made in his election manifesto, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has ordered the withdrawal of all defamation cases filed against journalists and media organizations in the last 10 years on Thursday (July 29).
Under AIADMK govt scrutiny
During its tenure, the AIADMK government had filed 90 defamation cases against English and Tamil news dailies, weekly magazines, and television news channels.
A promise fulfilled
In a statement, the DMK-led government said it was fulfilling one of the promises in its election manifesto.
Cases against media house to be withdrawn
There had been 4 cases filed against the editor of The Hindu newspaper, The Times of India’s editor faced 5 cases, while 1 case was filed against The Economic Times. In Tamil dailies, the editor of weekly Tamil Magazine Nakheeran alone faced 23 cases, and there were 17 cases against the editor of Murasoli, a DMK owned daily, 12 slapped against the editor of Tamil daily Dinamalar, 11 against the editor of weekly magazine Junior Vikatan, 9 against Ananda Vikatan and 4 against Tamil daily Dinakaran. Cases filed against NDTV, Times Now, Puthiya Thalaimurai, News 7, Sathyam, Captain, and Kalaignar channels for defamatory will be to be withdrawn.
A case against Tehelka Managing - Editor Samuel Mathew
It is noteworthy, in 2019 former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) filed a lawsuit against former Tehelka Managing - Editor Samuel Mathew and six others for allegedly publishing a video clip linking him to the 2017 Kodanad robbery. EPS had even demanded Rs 1.10 crore as compensation citing defamation.