On 8 September 2025, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court issued an interim stay on a single judge’s ruling that had directed the Editor, Publisher, and Printer of the Tamil magazine Junior Vikatan to pay ₹25 lakh in damages to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP TR Baalu. The compensation was awarded for allegedly attributing to Baalu a speech he never made against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The stay was granted by Justices S.M. Subramaniam and C. Saravanan in response to an appeal filed by the magazine’s legal counsel, N. Ramesh, challenging the earlier judgment delivered on 4 February 2025. That decision had partially allowed a defamation suit filed in 2014, concluding that a 2013 article published by Junior Vikatan was defamatory and malicious in nature.
The single judge had ruled that Baalu was entitled to compensation from Vasan Publications Private Limited and ordered Editor R. Kannan, Publisher K. Ashokan, and Printer S. Madhavan to jointly pay ₹25 lakh within a month. In response, the three had filed a joint appeal contesting the judgment on multiple legal grounds.
Although Baalu’s original defamation suit also referred to a 2012 article, the court held that claim to be time-barred, as it was filed beyond the one-year limitation period prescribed for such cases. The judge focused instead on the 22 December 2013 publication, which allegedly reported that Baalu had made disparaging remarks about Rahul Gandhi during a closed-door DMK general body meeting on 15 December 2013.
After reviewing the material on record and hearing witness testimonies, the single judge concluded that the publication lacked due diligence, had not verified the information, and was published with the intent to damage Baalu’s reputation. The court described the article as being motivated by malice and aimed at tarnishing the image of the former Union Minister.
While Baalu had sought ₹1 crore in damages with 18% annual interest from the date of filing, the court limited the compensation to ₹25 lakh and declined to issue a permanent injunction against future publications on the same subject.
(With Inputs From The Hindu)
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