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Gurumurthy moves court against criminal proceedings
Tuesday February 22 2005 00:00 IST

CHENNAI: Columnist S Gurumurthy has moved the Madras High Court with a writ petition challenging a criminal complaint filed by Kanchi Special Investigation Team against him.

The complaint alleged that Gurumurthy had intentionally omitted to furnish certain information available with him with regard to the Sankararaman murder case and thereby committed an offence punishable under various Sections of the IPC.

When the matter came up before Justice K P Sivasubramaniam on Monday, senior counsel T R Rajagopalan submitted that the complaint was accentuated by mala fides and that it infringed on the constitutional right of freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and impeded on the liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Setting in motion a criminal law against a columnist was an extraordinary measure and unprecedented in police history. It was invented for the first time for the oblique purpose of sending a clear and unambiguous message to all publishers, more particularly to that of The New Indian Express and Thuglak, that publishing petitioner’s articles would expose them to embarrassment and harassment.

It was a calculated attempt to affect his reputation and impede his work as a professional, thus constituting a direct violation of his fundamental rights. The complaint was to put a fetter on his personal liberty and it demonstrated arbitrariness and discrimination, Rajagopalan contended and sought to stay the proceedings pursuant to the complaint. The judge, however, declined to grant any interim injunction.

Public Prosecutor K Doraisamy submitted that the writ petition was not maintainable and sought time to file a detailed counter.

And the judge adjourned the hearing on the petition till February 25. The judge also declined to direct the police not to arrest Gurumurthy till then.


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