HC stays proceedings against AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam

Chennai, Nov 20 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Thursday stayed all further proceedings and criminal prosecution, if any based on the orders passed by the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, against AIADMK MP and former minister CVe Shanmugam, for his alleged speech against women, damaging their reputation.

Justice A D Jagdish Chandra granted the interim stay while passing interim orders on a petition filed by Shanmugam and posted to November 27, further hearing of the case.

In his petition, Shanmugam submitted that the present proceedings were initiated with extreme prejudice and in gross violation of the principles of natural justice. He was served with a summon dated October 24, 2025 from the Commission only on October 27, demanding his personal appearance on October 28. This gave him less than 24 hours notice, making it practically impossible for him to attend as he was at Tindivanam on public assignments, he added.

He said more egregiously, the summon was fundamentally defective and vague except for mentioning that a complaint was filed by two persons mentioning their name, address and phone number.

Crucially, no copy of the complaint or any supporting documents were enclosed, leaving him completely in the dark about the allegations he was expected to answer, since the allegations against him were also conspicuously absent in the summons.

He said immediately, he authorised his counsels to represent him. On October 28, they appeared before the commission and made a request to file a duly executed Vakalatnama and a memo. The said memo has explicitly recorded his objections, stating that the summon was served at short notice, that it did not contain the complaint copy, and that he reserved his right to challenge the commission's jurisdiction.

The chairperson of the commission refused to receive the memo and she explicitly stated that advocates could not appear and, most alarmingly, informed his counsels that "she has instructions from higher authorities to initiate action in this complaint." This statement, made at the very outset, proves that the chairperson was not acting as an independent quasi-judicial authority but was proceeding with a predetermined and politically motivated agenda, he alleged.

He said subsequently he sent a representation and a letter. His advocate was was informed that the commission has already recommended that a criminal case be registered against him and that the said recommendation had been forwarded to the DGP's office on November 11, 2025 by the commission.

He said he has not been given the copy of the complaint or the copy of the order allegedly passed on November 11. All this was despite his detailed representation and further letter, seeking for information on further proceedings.

The "hasty ex-parte disposal" of the complaint by the commission, clearly discloses that the entire proceedings were an eye wash orchestrated by the party in power to settle political scores, he alleged. PTI COR VGN KH