High Court orders former Padang Serai MP to pay RM150,000 to couple over defamation suit

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has ordered former Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan to pay RM150,000 in damages to a couple over defamatory WhatsApp messages involving allegations of them cheating several businessmen.

Lawyer Rueben Mathiavaranam, who represented S. Selvakumar and R. Indrani, said that Judicial Commissioner Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan awarded Selvakumar RM50,000 in damages while Indrani was awarded RM100,000 in damages.

"The defendant was also ordered to pay the plaintiffs' costs in the sum of RM40,000," Rueben told the press on Thursday (Feb 23).

According to Rueben, the court found the impugned publications, via WhatsApp, to be defamatory of the plaintiffs and without any basis.

He said the court also dismissed a counterclaim filed by the defendant against Indrani for lack of evidence.

In the plaintiffs' statement of claim, they said that the defendant had sent WhatsApp messages with their photos and defamatory words as well as a voice note to an individual.

"By reason of the publication of the said words, the plaintiffs have in consequence been brought into public scandal, odium and contempt.

"The plaintiffs have also been injured in their feelings and have suffered considerable embarrassment and distress," the plaintiffs said.

They sought for general damages, an injunction to restrain the defendant from further writing or publishing the impugned words, interest on damages, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.