Undeterred by the nationwide condemnation of the state assembly's order sentencing six journalists of The Hindu to imprisonment in a breach of privilege case, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday filed a defamation case against four staffers of the daily for an article published on April 30, 2003.

The case, filed before the First Additional Sessions Judge in Chennai, cited as respondents the paper's editor N Ravi, executive editor Malini Parthasarathy, publisher S Rangarajan and chief of bureau (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) V Jayanth.

The case, filed on behalf of Jayalalithaa by the city public prosecutor, said the article was aimed at bringing disrepute to the chief minister.

This is the 18th defamation case against the daily. It was filed hours after the Supreme Court stayed the arrest warrants against six journalists issued by Speaker K Kalimuthu.

The paper's editor-in-chief N Ram said the article was one of the three in which the state assembly had dropped breach of privilege proceedings on November 7 after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa declined to pursue the case in the assembly as it concerned her alone.