The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the operation of actor and former Lok Sabha MP Jayapradha's sentence in a case in which she was awarded six-month simple imprisonment for not having paid Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) dues of the staff of a cinema theatre owned by her for over 18 years.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal issued notice to the ESIC on the appeal filed by Jayapradha.

Senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing on behalf of Jayapradha, claimed the conviction order passed by the trial court in Chennai suffers from patent infirmities.

The top court had earlier exempted Jayapradha from surrendering in the case.

The Madras High Court had dismissed the petitions that challenged an order of the principal sessions judge who refused to suspend the sentence imposed by a trial court on the actor and her partners who owned the now defunct Jayapradha Cinema Theatre.

Jayapradha, a partner of Jayaprada Cinema, was sentenced to six-month imprisonment by a Metropolitan Magistrate's court in Egmore.

The verdict was delivered on a petition by the workers of the theatre who complained that the actor had not paid their ESI contribution.

The workers of the theatre, which has been closed for the last 10 years, said the management was deducting their ESI contribution but not depositing the money with the state insurance corporation.

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