Actress Sukanya won the long-pending legal case against Sun TV Network.
The Madras HC has ordered Sun TV to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakhs to the actress for damaging her name in an interview.
The case was over a Veerappan interview in 1996.
After three decades, actress R Sukanyahas got relief in a legal battle against Sun TV Network. The Madras High Court upheld a 2015 order of the trial court directing the broadcaster to pay around Rs 10 lakhs in compensation to the actress for airing the defamatory statements made by forest brigand Veerappan in a 1996 interview with investigative journalist Nakheeran R. Gopal.
The Madras High Court heard an appeal filed by Sun TV Network Limited against a 2015 decree passed by a Chennai trial court challenging the award of Rs 10,00,500 in damages and a permanent injunction granted in favour of the actress over the controversial Veerappan interview.
Madras High Court orders Sun TV to pay compensation to Sukanya
Justice K Kumaresh Babu noted that Sun TV was at fault for not editing the defamatory part. Sun TV had issued an apology in another magazine. The court also stated that there was no explanation why the regret was published in a magazine and not on their channel.
“It is further to be noted that if such a regret been published in its own broadcast, it would have reached the very same viewer who would have viewed the publication it had made earlier. This itself would show malice on the part of the appellant in only opting to give a regret in a third party magazine, which was also not substantiated to have wider reach than its viewers,” the court observed, per Live Law.
The court also said, “Having reserved the right to edit, cut, delete or modify, alter and add any portion with an unrestricted right, it is the duty that is enjoined upon the appellant to verify the contents of the interview before its publication. In view of the aforesaid findings, I answer the issue against the appellant.”
What Sukanya said about the defamatory interview
Sukanya claimed Veerappan made false and defamatory allegations, saying that she had an illicit relationship with the son of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and that had been allegedly filmed to use for political bargaining ahead of the 1996 general elections.
She said the allegations caused serious harm to her dignity and reputation. The actress also claimed that the Veerappan interview affected her career and her mental health.
