INDIAN GAMING
Malayalam Paper “Mathrubhumi” agrees to publish clarifi cation for remark against Santiago Martin; Supreme Court closes defamation case
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal against the Sikkim High Court’s refusal to quash the summonses in a defamation case brought by Santiago Martin in 2020 against the Managing Editor, Managing Director, and Joint Managing Editor of the Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi. The complaint was fi led under Sections 499,
500, 501, 502 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Martin after a defamatory statement was made by Mathrubhumi publication saying, “lottery mafi a-like Santiago Martin will not be allowed to operate in Kerala.” Mathrubhumi claimed that the statement itself
was made by the then Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac, and the publication had only quoted his words. In order to harm his name and reputation,
Martin claimed that the newspaper and its management planned to publish items in both the daily paper and its online edition. The High Court had rejected the defence that
the editors could not be held liable without the complainant having established beyond a reasonable doubt that they at least had fi rst-hand knowledge of the contents prior to publication. Mathrubhumi argued that the news was published by them in good faith, believing the
Minister’s account to be accurate, and was a report addressing the opinion of a public servant regarding a public question and public policy and was therefore protected by Section 499 of the IPC. Lastly, the Apex Court voiced its concern over the
Malayalam publication Mathrubhumi’s use of the term “Mafi a” as an identifying characteristic for a man who operates lotteries. The newspaper’s representative, K.V.
Vishwanathan, stated that clarifi cation had been published when the subject was fi rst discussed on Tuesday by a bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Senior Advocate A.S. Oka. After both parties agreed on the matter, the
bench recorded, “the two sides have thought it fi t to bring the present dispute to an end and save both of them unnecessary harassment and legal expenses. The petitioners have agreed to publish the following statement.” “Needless to say, the petitioner has submitted that
they will publish the aforesaid statement with the same font size and prominence as the news article was published…We close the current proceeding with the direction that the publication will take place within seven days,” the statement added. At Sundaram’s request, the Bench made it very apparent that the current order put an end to the
Only intelligent people can play it: Tamil actor Sarathkumar on criticism for acting in online rummy ads
R Sarathkumar, an actor and the leader of the All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi, stated on Tuesday that only intelligent people can play rummy while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) administration in Tamil Nadu waits for Governor R N Ravi’s approval to the Gaming Ban Bill. Sarathkumar has been facing criticism for
appearing in advertisements for an online rummy company. He spoke on the topic during a one-day hunger strike demanding that alcohol be banned and that people be made aware of the dangers of drug use. “Rummy is an intelligent game. I am not saying
this just because I acted in those advertisements. You need intelligence to play rummy. If someone does not want to get into something, he will never do that. People do not play just because I acted in an advertisement. Have they voted for me because I asked them?,” asked Sarathkumar. He claimed that it is useless to ask him to quit
appearing in commercials, because the government should take action to prohibit online
32 JANUARY 2023
rummy. The modern world, he continued, is all digital, and gambling, even sports, is pervasive in all aspects of life. He further claimed
that some of the suicides committed
due to family disputes have also been attributed to have been caused by online rummy debts. Sarathkumar also asserted that the commercials airing currently were shot two years ago. He also said he would not have appeared in the advertisements if the government had outlawed them at the time. The advertisements were done for Junglee
Rummy and the fi lming for those advertisements was done almost two years ago according to Sarathkumar. He intended to say that people criticizing him do not know about this and have only watched the commercial recently.
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legal dispute between Martin and the newspaper, including its offi cial. However, the current order has no bearing on the procedures relating to the complaint against Kerala’s Finance Minister, Thomas Issac. The statement quoted, “Needless to say, this is
the end of the list so far as the two parties are concerned and not accused one.” The Bench added that all disagreements
between the parties in question will be resolved by this agreement. The case against the newspaper and its representatives would be dismissed upon the release of the statement approved by the parties. “Forecloses any dispute in these parties. On
publication of the statement the complaint against the aforesaid petitions will stand quashed.”
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