Can a Chief Minister use her influence to instigate the government to issue sanction to initiate criminal defamation proceedings against a political opponent?

This is a question the Supreme Court wants Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to personally respond within the next four weeks.

Plea by Vijayakanth
The query came in a hearing before a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C. Nagappan on a plea by DMDK chief Vijayakanth to stay proceedings on a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by the Dharmapuri Public Prosecutor on receiving sanction from the Jayalalithaa government.

He is accused of making disparaging remarks about the Chief Minister and the government during his speech at a public welfare meeting in October 2015 at Dharmapuri.

“The Public Prosecutor is not a postman and his office is not a post office,” Justice Misra orally observed. He was referring to submissions made by DMDK counsel G.S. Mani on the alleged non-application of mind by the prosecutor’s office.