Chennai, Sep 22 DMK President M K Stalin on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that the allegation of defamation levelled against him by Minister for Public Works, Aadhav Arjuna was baseless and unfounded.
Stalin said he cannot be held responsible for any individual acts of the party members and sought dismissal of Arjuna’s suit with exemplary cost.
In his counter affidavit to a Rs one crore defamation suit filed by Arjuna against him, and the DMK IT Wing as well, Stalin made the submission.
The crux of Arjuna’s suit, that seeks damages from Stalin, pertains to a post by the DMK IT wing, which allegedly claimed that an accused in a drug trafficking case, John Britto, was Arjuna’s relative.
Justice K Govindarajan Thilakavadi, before whom the matter came up for hearing, adjourned it to October 26 and Stalin opposed a plea seeking interim relief under the libel suit against him.
The DMK chief specifically denied the allegation that the alleged post was published, “pursuant to any plan, direction, instruction or approval given by him.”
He said he did not instruct or give any approval to the DMK IT wing to publish any alleged post linking the applicant (Aadhav Arjuna) or any member of his family to John Britto or any drug trafficking case.
The Dravidian party top leader submitted that the fact remains that “John Britto had appeared before the media and claimed that he was the brother of MLA Leemarose, who was none other than the applicant’s (Aadhav Arjuna) mother-in-law.”
It was also a fact that John Britto, brother of Leemarose, was facing criminal cases.
The mere fact that he was the president of the DMK does not render him liable for every post published through the social media handles of the various wings/functionaries of the party.
Though he was the head of the party and he exercises administrative control over the office bearers of various wings of the party, he cannot be legally responsible or liable for any individual acts of the members or wings of the party, the former CM added.
Also, the plaintiff (Arjuna) himself was facing prosecution by the CBI. Thus, the state minister has suppressed vital facts, which were essential and relevant to decide the issue on hand.
Therefore, the plaintiff has approached the court with “unclean hands” and was not entitled to any relief, Stalin said and urged dismissal of the suit filed by Aadhav Arjuna with exemplary cost.
(PTI News)
