Madurai: In a major relief to actor Kamal Haasan, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court today stayed a lower court proceeding against the actor and exempted him from his personal appearance before the Judicial Magistrate Court in Valliyoor on May 5.
The Judicial Magistrate Court in Valliyoor in Tirunelveli district on April 21 had directed Kamal Haasan to appear before it on May 5 on a private complaint filed by V Adhinatha Sundaram against the actor for his alleged remarks against epic Mahabharata and hurting the sentiments of Hindus during a television interview.
Mr Kamal Haasan reportedly said, during the interview in a Tamil television channel, that there was nothing surprising about violence against women in a society which revered the epic Mahabharata in which a woman was used as collateral during gambling.
Mr Kamal Haasan, on Wednesday, moved the HC Bench with a plea to quash the private complaint lodged against him. He also preferred sub applications seeking an interim stay of the proceedings before the Valliyoor JM court and to dispense with his personal appearance before the Magistrate as mention in the summons received by him.
Mr Kamal Haasan also claimed that his right to freedom of speech and expression had been infringed by the issuance of summons by the Magistrate who had not taken into account the principles of law laid down by various High Courts of the country. “ I never had any intention to hurt the sentiments of anybody let alone the complainant. The allegation of deliberate wounding of feelings was a figment of imagination of the complainant”, the actor said.
When the petition came up for hearing today, Justice N Authinathan stayed the summons issued by JM court, Valliyoor, against Kamal Haasan and also exempted him from appearing in the JM court tomorrow (May 5).
The Judge also said that case would be taken up for hearing after summer vacation.
The Judicial Magistrate Court in Valliyoor in Tirunelveli district on April 21 had directed Kamal Haasan to appear before it on May 5 on a private complaint filed by V Adhinatha Sundaram against the actor for his alleged remarks against epic Mahabharata and hurting the sentiments of Hindus during a television interview.
Mr Kamal Haasan reportedly said, during the interview in a Tamil television channel, that there was nothing surprising about violence against women in a society which revered the epic Mahabharata in which a woman was used as collateral during gambling.
Mr Kamal Haasan, on Wednesday, moved the HC Bench with a plea to quash the private complaint lodged against him. He also preferred sub applications seeking an interim stay of the proceedings before the Valliyoor JM court and to dispense with his personal appearance before the Magistrate as mention in the summons received by him.
Mr Kamal Haasan also claimed that his right to freedom of speech and expression had been infringed by the issuance of summons by the Magistrate who had not taken into account the principles of law laid down by various High Courts of the country. “ I never had any intention to hurt the sentiments of anybody let alone the complainant. The allegation of deliberate wounding of feelings was a figment of imagination of the complainant”, the actor said.
When the petition came up for hearing today, Justice N Authinathan stayed the summons issued by JM court, Valliyoor, against Kamal Haasan and also exempted him from appearing in the JM court tomorrow (May 5).
The Judge also said that case would be taken up for hearing after summer vacation.