In a petition filed before the Madras High Court to bring to the notice of the Court that Keezhaikaatru Publishers, Chennai (respondent 5), were about to release a book that contains a title having extremely derogatory language with the specific name of a sitting Judge of the High Court, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan directed the respondents to ensure that such a scandalised publication does not take place while initiating suo motu criminal contempt against the publishers.
The petitioner submitted that a copy of the book’s front page was circulating on social media, and the book was proposed to be released on 08-01-2026 at the opening of the Chennai Book Fair.
The Court perused the material on record and noted that the pictorial representation, the caricature, and the words used were not only highly derogatory but also virtually abusive. It was noted that the pictorial representation was directly pointed out with the face and name of a sitting Judge of the Court. The Court stated that the book was highly derogatory, crossed all limits, and had to be dealt with sternly.
The Court directed the respondents to ensure that no such book having pictorial representations, statements, caricatures, or contents tending to scandalise the Court/Judge is allowed to be published and circulated. The Court stated that appropriate action shall be taken by the police authorities to ensure that such scandalised publications do not take place.
Further, the Court initiated suo motu criminal contempt against Keezhaikaatru Publishers and issued notice to them. Lastly, the Court directed the respondent to submit a report of compliance with the directions given on the next date of hearing.
The matter has now been listed on 28-01-2026.
Appearances:
For Petitioner – Mr. B. Jagannath
For Respondent(s) – Mr. E. Vijay Anand (Addl. Govt. Pleader), Mr. Ar. L. Sundaresan (Addl. Solicitor General of India), Mr. A. Kumaraguru, Mr. V. Chandrasekaran, Dr. G. Babu, Mr. B. Sudhir Kumar
