Puducherry: Tamil Nadu finance minister N Marie Wilson appeared in person before the Puducherry second judicial magistrate on Friday in connection with an ongoing assault case involving his brother Marie Claude. The magistrate served him a copy of the additional charge sheet along with a pen drive containing case details and adjourned the hearing to Sept 9.The minister appeared before the Puducherry court after Madras high court rejected his request to exempt him from personal appearance and issued a stern reprimand, questioning, “Is finance minister Marie Wilson the King of England to claim he won’t appear before the court?”The minister’s counsel filed two separate petitions before the magistrate, one seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance during trial, and another praying for discharge from the case. The magistrate will hear both petitions on Sept 9.The case stems from an incident on Aug 8, 2022, at Ezhil Nagar in Puducherry. Wilson was accused of forcibly entering his brother Claude’s residence by breaking open the door and allegedly assaulting Claude and his wife, Caroline. The Lawspet police registered a case against Wilson following a complaint from Claude and initiated an investigation.Claude told reporters outside the courtroom: “This is not a case about child adoption or property issues. This case was filed because he assaulted me and my wife. We are still receiving threats. We are attending the court proceedings without revealing our current location to anyone.”
