Ex-BJP IT wing chief stopped from posting hate comments against Tamil Nadu minister

The Madras High Court has restrained CTR Nirmal Kumar (former BJP IT-wing chief who moved to ally AIADMK last month) from making defamatory comments--specifically unsubstantiated allegations of corruption– against electricity minister Senthil Balaji.

The Madras High Court has restrained CTR Nirmal Kumar (former BJP IT-wing chief who moved to ally AIADMK last month) from making defamatory comments--specifically unsubstantiated allegations of corruption– against electricity minister Senthil Balaji.

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Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Wednesday granted the interim injunction and directed Kumar to take down all such existing posts against the Minister made without any material to substantiate the allegation of corruption.

Balaji filed a civil suit that Kumar had repeatedly made slanderous and defamatory remarks against him in Tweets and in press interviews without any evidence of corruption. Balaji had also drawn on Nirmal’s high number of followers on Twitter given that he was the BJP IT wing head at that time.

Submitting the tweets and video, Balaji’s petition had said that the 1st Defendant— Nirmal “is simply chanting the Plaintiff’s name and associating it with wrongdoing to defame the Plaintiff and gain political mileage.” The 1st Defendant has published these falsities on his Twitter handle which has around 105,900 followers so his tweets have been retweeted and shared by several others, “thereby causing a rapid spread of misinformation amongst the general public and severely tarnishing the Plaintiff’s reputation and image amongst the general public,” the suit stated.