Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for quashing six criminal defamation cases against him filed by the Tamil Nadu government.

A Bench led by Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear his application on September 7 (Monday). The application comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court reserving its judgment on a batch of writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of criminal defamation as a penal offence, saying it has a chilling effect on free speech. Dr. Swamy was the lead petitioner in that case.