NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that one should be ready to receive unwarranted and unnecessary compliments upon entering politics. The court observed while hearing a plea by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan against criminal defamation proceedings initiated against him by Chennai-based Murasoli Trust. Murasoli newspaper, published by the trust, is the mouthpiece of DMK, the ruling party of Tamil Nadu. “Free speech issues, you have to have breathing space,” the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said. A complaint was lodged by Chennai-based Murasoli Trust against Murugan for his alleged defamatory statements during a press meet in December 2020.During the hearing on Wednesday, the apex court told the complainant (trust), “When you enter politics, you should be ready to receive all sorts of unwarranted, unnecessary compliments.”The counsel appearing for the trust responded that they were not in politics. The court further asked the counsel, “Are you willing to make a statement that you had no intention to defame?”
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