Fulfilling its election promise, the ruling DMK government on Thursday announced that 90 defamation cases against various media houses and journalists filed by the previous AIADMK regime from 2012 till February 2021, will be withdrawn by the Tamil Nadu government. The previous AIADMK government filed a slew of defamation complaints on daily and weekly English and Tamil newspapers, magazines and news channels.
Breaking up the number of cases against each media house, the government order released on Thursday stated. Among English newspapers, four cases had been filed against The Hindu, five cases on the Times of India and one against the Economic Times.
Among Tamil newspapers and magazines -- 12 defamation complaints were filed against Dinamalar, nine on weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, 11 complaints against Junior Vikatan, 23 on Nakkeeran, 17 complaints on Murasoli and four complaints on Dinakaran. All these cases are being withdrawn.
Furthermore, one defamation case against NDTV and Times Now is also being withdrawn. Lastly, one defamation case each against Tamil news channels such as News 7, Captain TV, Kalaignar TV, Sathiyam TV and Puthiya Thalaimurai are also being taken back
Responding to the move by the Tamil Nadu government, several reporters, editors of various media houses thanked the government and pointed out that filing defamation cases on media houses is a method to intimidate journalists.
It is to be noted that during the AIADMK regime (2002- 2006), the Jayalalithaa government filed almost 120 criminal defamation cases against the media. The DMK has also filed defamation complaints against the media during its tenure (2006-2011), however they were much lesser in number.
The Jayalalithaa government from 2011 almost surpassed it's previous record and filed more than 75 criminal defamation complaints in Chennai alone within a span of four years. Complaints were filed against even news anchors for reading statements by the DMK, there were also defamation complaints filed against the media for criticising certain government policies.
In the government order released on Thursday evening, CM MK Stalin said that while contesting in the assembly election this year, he had promised to withdraw all the defamation complaints filed against media houses. It is to be noted that the DMK government can only withdraw cases that were initiated by the government by authorising city public prosecutors to initiate criminal proceedings. However, cases filed by ministers or bureaucrats on a personal basis will continue.