Defamation case: Madras High Court awards damages of ₹1.1 crore to Palaniswami
The Hindu
The Madras High Court on Thursday (November 7, 2024) decreed a suit filed by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Edappadi K. Palaniswami seeking damages of ₹1.1 crore from S. Dhanapal, brother of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s driver Kanagaraj, for having linked his name with the 2017 Kodanad estate heist-cum-murder case.
The Madras High Court on Thursday (November 7, 2024) decreed a suit filed by Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Edappadi K. Palaniswami seeking damages of ₹1.1 crore from S. Dhanapal, brother of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s driver Kanagaraj, for having linked his name with the 2017 Kodanad estate heist-cum-murder case.
Justice R.M.T. Teekaa Raman also ordered a permanent injunction restraining Mr. Dhanapal from giving interviews or circulating messages similar to the one he had done between August 24, 2023, and September 1, 2023, accusing Mr. Palaniswami of having attempted to “wriggle out” of the murder case.
The orders were passed on a civil suit preferred by the LoP in 2023, accusing the defendant of having caused great damage to his reputation and 40 years of political life by spreading canards and false news about his involvement in the murder that occurred during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
On September 26, 2023, Justice R.N. Manjula had granted an interim injunction restraining the defendant from making any further references linking the plaintiff with the 2017 murder case. She agreed with advocate S.R. Rajagopal that irreparable damage would be caused to the plaintiff if such an injunction was not granted.
The judge also cited the Delhi High Court to have observed in a case that desecration of the reputation of public personalities had become a child’s play in the age of social media and that all one required was to just post any random defaming message and make it spread like a wildfire.
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