V P R ILAMPARUTHI Vs. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, TIRUNELVELI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed these Criminal Original Petitions for quashing the proceedings in Special Case Nos.5 and 7 of 2013 on the file of the learned Sessions Judge, Tirunelveli.

(2.) The private complaints have been filed by the Public Prosecutor, Tirunelveli. The petitioner herein is a member of a political party known as Dravida Munnetra Kalagam. In the public meeting held on 29.09.2012 and 27.01.2013, the petitioner had made a defamatory statement attacking Ms.J.Jeyalalitha, the then Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Since the person defamed happened to be a high dignitary and a constitutional functionary, the respondent herein who was the Public Prosecutor, Tirunelveli had filed the private complaints before the learned Sessions Court, Tirunelveli and the same were taken on file in Special Case Nos.5 and 7 of 2013.

(3.) To quash the same, these criminal original petitions have been filed principally on the ground that the petitioner has not uttered anything with regard to the public function discharged by the then Hon'ble Chief Minister and that the complaints filed by the Public Prosecutor per se not maintainable.