A Chennai court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam, a fringe outfit, seeking criminal case against film actor turned politician, Rajnikanth for his remarks on rationalist leader Ramasamy Periyar. During the golden jubilee celebrations of Thuglak magazine on January 14, Rajnikanth gave a speech about Periyar’s denigration of Hindu gods in an anti-superstition rally held in Salem in 1971 by Thanthai Periyar.
The court deemed the case to be “at best defamatory” rather than police case as was being sought by the petitioner. The petitioner had sought charges under sections 153A [Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 504 [Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace] and 505 [Statements conducing to public mischief] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to be invoked against Rajnikanth. As per the petitioner, Rajnikanth made “false and fraudulent statements insulting Dravidhiyan ideologists with intention to provoke breach of public peace, by promoting enmity and hatred among the public of Tamil Nadu, in the name of religion, only to score political mileage and gather support from particular community”.
The Court, however, after hearing the speech delivered by Rajnikanth deemed that “he has stated what he thought was a fact, about a rally held in Salem in 1971, by Thanthai Periyar, and which according to him was also published in the Thuglak weekly magazine of that period…. the speech of actor Mr. Rajinikanth, is at best defamatory. The offence u/s. 499 r/w 500 IPC alone appears to be made out. The said offence is non-cognizable, and maintainable as private complaint. In the circumstance, on the discussion supra, this court finds that no grounds are made out for concluding offences u/s. 153A, 504 and 505 IPC are attracted, and the petitioner can file private complaint for defamation, damages, and compensation, if so advised.”
The petitioner, is reportedly set to file an appeal against this order.
The order can be read here:
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