Chennai Sessions Court has dismissed poet-filmmaker Leena Manimekalai’s plea to transfer the criminal defamation case filed against her by director Susi Ganesan at the Saidapet Magistrate court.
Leena had filed the petition seeking to transfer the case to a different court citing bias on the part of the presiding magistrate. The Sessions Court, however, observed that the allegations levied against the court’s presiding officer were unfounded and dismissed her plea.
This is part of the ongoing legal battle between Leena and Ganesan after she named him as her abuser during the #MeToo movement. Ganesan had filed the criminal defamation suit against Leena in 2019, after she accused him of sexual assault.
Following this, Ganesan moved the Saidapet Magistrate Court to impound Leena’s passport, just as she was about to travel abroad to complete her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programme, citing the pending defamation case. Leena’s passport was consequently impounded in September 2021. She challenged this at the Madras High Court, which eventually overturned the order and directed the authorities to return her passport.
Ganesan then filed a special leave petition against the Madras HC order at the Supreme Court. However, the apex court refused to interfere. Supreme Court had also directed the Saidapet Magistrate to swiftly complete the trial in the defamation case, preferably within four months.
During the hearing on Monday, Leena expressed doubts about how impartial the trial conducted at the Magistrate court would be. She further said that the Saidapet Magistrate had considered the “whims and fancies” of Ganesan, thus favouring him. Hence, she appealed for transferring the case to another competent court to protect her fundamental rights.
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However, the Sessions Court said that a mere apprehension that justice will not be done in a given case, could not be grounds for transferring it. Concluding that there was no merit in Leena’s arguments, and adding that “the allegations made against the presiding officer are unfounded and invented for the purpose of transfer petition,” the court dismissed her plea to transfer the case to another court.
Meanwhile, Leena was recently selected as one of 10 participants in BAFTA’s Breakthrough India initiative. Supported by Netflix, the programme will provide the participants with global networking opportunities, free access to BAFTA events and screenings for 12 months, and full BAFTA voting membership.