Wives of journalists take Tamil actors to court

CHENNAI - The war between Tamil actors and journalists in Tamil Nadu took a new turn Thursday as six reporters as well as the wives of two scribes filed a complaint in a court against the alleged derogatory and defamatory speeches by the artistes.

The complainants said they were deeply hurt after hearing the alleged derogatory speeches by Tamil actors against journalists and their families last week, M.K.S. Sundar, counsel for the petitioner, told IANS.

The complaints have been made against actors Sarath Kumar, Radha Ravi, Vijayakumar, Arun Kumar, Surya, Vivekh, Satyaraj and Sripriya.

The confrontation between the actors and the media began when a newspaper alleged that some leading lights of the Tamil movie world were linked to a prostitution racket.

The report was based on a statement by an actor, Bhuvaneswari, who was arrested in Chennai for running a call girl racket from her house. But the daily published an apology to the actors the next day.

However, angered by the report, an actors’ body filed a police complaint against the daily, resulting in the arrest and jailing of the daily’s news editor B. Lenin. He got bail Friday.

Sundar said the petition has been admitted and the judge has posted the case for hearing Nov 13.