Madurai — The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Thursday stayed defamation proceedings pending against Sahitya Akademi award-wining Tamil writer Joe D’Cruz in the Judicial Magistrate Court II in Tuticorin.
General secretary of the Fishermen Liberation Movement V Alangara Parthar had lodged the defamation complaint against him in the magistrate court, The Times of India reported.
The petitioner alleged that the writer had made defamatory descriptions and remarks against the fishermen community women and Christian priests in his novel ‘Korkai,’ which won the Sahitya Akademi award.
Justice M M Sundaresh of the Madras high court stayed the proceedings after the writer filed a petition.
In his petition, the writer rejected the charge that the descriptions in the novel were obscene and that it portrayed women in poor taste.
The writer said his first novel, ‘Aazhi Soozh Ulagam,’ was very well received and his second novel, Korkai, won the Sahitya Akademi award.
He said the judicial magistrate should have taken all those factors into consideration and dismissed the defamatory case filed against him.
He accused that the magistrate court of adjourning the case frequently. Thus he could not concentrate on his work at a shipping company. He also sought to dispense with his personal appearance in the court.