MK Stalin, the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), addressed the Madras High Court on Tuesday, stating that he cannot be held accountable for every social media post made by various wings or members of his party. His remarks were made in response to claims suggesting that his position as party president implicates him in all online communications from DMK functionaries.
Arjuna has denied having any connection with the accused. Stalin further referred to criminal cases involving Arjuna’s family members, including his wife, mother-in-law and father-in-law, and to the CBI investigation against Arjuna in connection with the Karur stampede tragedy. His relative, P John Britto, had complained to the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police that he was being wrongly identified as the man arrested in the narcotics case because their names were similar, according to his suit.
“Though I am the head of the party and I exercise administrative control over the office-bearers of various wings of the party, I cannot be legally responsible or liable for any individual acts of the members or wings of the party,” Stalin said in a counter filed in a civil defamation suit filed against him by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) minister Aadhav Arjuna. “Therefore, the applicant’s claim that linking him to an accused person has ruined his reputation is bizarre when there are pending criminal cases against his immediate family members and one criminal case pending against him,” he said in the counter affidavit. Arjuna, in his suit, has alleged that the said post was not an isolated act of a party functionary but was published on Stalin’s instructions, given his control over the affairs of the DMK and its IT Wing.
