A local court on Thursday issued summons to social activist 'Traffic' Ramaswamy, asking him to appear before it on February 22 for alleged defamatory remarks against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on WhatsApp over distribution of flood relief material.

Principal Sessions Judge N Audinathan issued the summons to him on a criminal defamation complaint filed by city Public Prosecutor M L Jegan on behalf of the Chief Minister. 

The CPP contended that the words used by Ramaswamy were "highly defamatory, scandalous, disparaging, insuinating and highly provocative."

They had deliberately been made with the intention of causing harm to her reputation and her administration, which constituted an offence of defamation under Section 499 of IPC (defamation).

The CPP sought a direction to punish Ramaswamy under IPC Sec 500 (Punishment for defamation).

The case was filed by city public prosecutor ML Jegan on December 22 last year at the principal sessions’ court. The complaint specifies that Ramaswamy had written a defamatory post against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her government and posted it on a social networking group.

Traffic Ramaswamy or KR Ramaswamy is a regularly-featured name in news articles across Tamil Nadu and has been responsible for filing over 400 public interest litigations over a span of more than two decades.