india

Updated: Aug 30, 2019 18:08 IST

Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko was acquitted on Friday by a special court trying criminal offences against MLAs and MPs, in a defamation case filed by the then DMK government in 2006. With this court verdict, the fiery orator has escaped a possible threat to his position as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Interestingly, while the case was filed by the then Karunanidhi government, the special judge who acquitted him happens to be a namesake of the late DMK patriarch. For, Karunanidhi is the name of the special judge. Further, Vaiko, now an ally of the opposition DMK, had entered the upper house of parliament, with the support of the Dravidian major only last month. He returned to the Rajya Sabha after more than two decades.

The case pertains to Vaiko accusing Karunanidhi of attempting to split the MDMK and also writing a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, complaining about this. And the DMK which was in power at that time filed a defamation case under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC.

Delivering the verdict earlier in the day, special judge Karunanidhi acquitted the MDMK leader holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges. “But for newspaper clippings, the prosecution could not submit any evidence to substantiate the charges. Even the witnesses have turned hostile,” the judge said.

The maximum punishment in this case is two years and had he been convicted, Vaiko would have automatically been unseated as an MP.

Vaiko was not present in court since he had been discharged from hospital only on Thursday and advised to take rest by doctors.

This is the second time that Vaiko has had legal relief in the recent past. Earlier last month, ahead of Vaiko filing his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election, he was convicted in a 2009 sedition case for one year. And the Madras High Court granted him relief by putting a stay on that.

That case pertained to his speech in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) made in 2009, during a book release function.