The Supreme Court on Friday stayed proceedings by the Madras High Court in a case involving the editor of Tamil magazine Nakkheeran over the publication of allegedly derogatory articles about Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
A Bench headed by Justice S.A. Nazeer agreed to examine the State government’s plea against the order which stayed the proceedings against the magazine and its editor.
On June 4, the High Court had granted interim relief to Nakkheeran Gopal, editor Nakkheeran magazine, by staying proceedings against him in the case in a lower court. Mr. Gopal was arrested on October 9 last year under Section 124 of the IPC which relates to “assaulting President, Governor etc with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power”, triggering a controversy. However, he had walked free within hours after a local court had rejected the police’s plea for his remand and released him on a personal bond.
The case was filed on a complaint from the Raj Bhavan over the publication of a series of articles in Nakkheeran related to a woman assistant professor of a college who allegedly asked girl students to extend sexual favours to university officials in return for marks and money.