Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday set aside a lower court order paving the way for reopening a defamation case against superstar Rajinikanth.
Justice M V Muralidharan directed a magistrate's court to dispense with the appearance of the actor, except on dates hearings are to be ordered by the lower court.
The judge gave the direction while allowing a criminal revision petition from film financier S Mukanchand Bothra of Sowcarpet.
Originally, Bothra had filed a defamation case against Rajinikanth for his alleged statement that he was attempting to extort money from him.
The magistrate, however, dismissed the petition as Bothra did not appear before him on the date of hearing following which he filed the present plea.
Setting aside the lower court order and allowing the petition, the judge said the magistrate had not followed the procedure as per Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) Section 203 relating to dismissal of complaint.
The judge said if the magistrate was taking cognizance of the complaint and issuing summons to Rajinikanth, "his appearance is dispensed with, except on the hearings to be ordered by the magistrate."
The judge then directed the VIII Metropolitan Magistrate, George Town, to follow the procedure under Cr.PC Section 203 and pass appropriate orders in the "unnumbered criminal complaint" filed by Bothra in 2015.
He further directed that the exercise shall be done within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.
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