Speaker Appavu is applying to the Madras High Court to quash a criminal defamation case

Parliament Speaker M. Appavu

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has approached the Madras High Court seeking quashing of a criminal defamation case filed against him by AIADMK’s right wing joint secretary and party spokesperson RM Babu Murugavel on the basis of a Speech delivered by him at a private book launch event on November 21, 2023 in Chennai.

The application seeking quashing of the defamation case, pending before a special court for lawmakers in Chennai, came up for hearing before Justice G. Jayachandran on Thursday. In his private complaint before the special court, Mr. Murugavel had accused the Speaker of defaming the AIADMK by making certain baseless allegations during the course of his speech.

The complainant said the Speaker had claimed that around 40 AIADMK members of the legislative assembly were willing to join the DMK after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016 and that a prominent AIADMK leader had contacted him to facilitate the switch in loyalty. However, the then DMK president and incumbent Prime Minister MK Stalin refused to come to power without seeking the people’s mandate.

The complainant alleged that the speaker narrated a “fabricated” incident to the audience of the book launch event with the sole intention of defaming the AIADMK and insisted that he be punished for criminal defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.