The Madras High Court has restrained filmmaker-cum-social activist Leena Manimekalai and singer Chinmayi Sripada from making defamatory statements against Tamil film director Susi Ganesan.

The court’s direction on Thursday came as a major reprieve for the beleaguered director who was charged with rape allegations by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai during the ‘Me Too’ movement.

A single bench of Justice Abdul Qudhoose also restrained certain social media platforms and online news portals from uploading any content pertaining to the allegations.

The court also said that both Manimekalai and Ganesan were injuncted from going to the press as the matter is sub judice.

The interim order was passed by the Madras High Court following a suit filed by Susi Ganesan seeking Rs 1.10 crore as compensation to him from the filmmaker and singer Chinmayi for making defamatory statements against him.

Susi Ganesan alleged that Leena Manimekalai had raised an allegation in 2017 that she was subjected to sexual harassment in 2005 recounting an incident without naming anyone.

Manimekalai under Chinmayi’s influence had in 2018 publicly stated that the person in question was him.

He said that this was a deliberate attempt to tarnish his image after a much thought out strategy at the insistence of the singer Chinmayi Sripada and that he wanted the court to restrain the duo from defaming him and to award him a compensation of Rs 1.10 crore for the damage inflicted on him and his family on a false allegation.