DMK MLA Anitha R Radhakrishnan was arrested on Friday for making objectionable comments against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay during a public meeting last month, police said.
According to the police, the comments were made at a public meeting on June 20 at Athor, Tuticorin district, following which the local police booked him under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including 352 (with intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and Section 353 (2) of the BNS which punishes making, publishing or circulating false information, rumors intended to promote sentiments of enmity and hatred.
“They pressured me to resign from the post of Member of Legislative Assembly so that I could join TVK. But I did not agree to it,” Radhakrishnan told reporters while being taken to the police station.
“I will not back down under any circumstances. I stand firmly with the DMK following the path of my leader (MK Stalin) and will not bow down to anyone,” he said.
Meanwhile, Energy Resources and Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar defended the arrest, saying that no common man would accept such a speech by Radhakrishnan.
Speaking to reporters, Kumar said, “Radhakrishnan has spoken beyond his limits and now no common person will agree to his comment. Towards the CM, he made filthy comments about his family, and no common person will accept this speech. Legal action will definitely be taken. He, being an MLA, how can this person talk like this.”
The arrest of the DMK legislator sparked sharp comments from DMK chief MK Stalin who raised questions as to what was the urgency to hurriedly arrest someone who was actively involved in public service?
“The ‘Take Diversion’ government has arrested former minister Anitha Radhakrishnan on the grounds that he spoke slanderously about the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is running the police department in a cinematic style,” Stalin wrote on his official social media account.
He added: “If arrests are to be made in defamation cases, how many people need to be arrested for the kind of speeches given by current ministers?”
“Without doing any good to the people who voted for him,” Stalin said, “the Prime Minister thinks he can waste his time by retaining his seat through horse-trading and arresting opposition parties that criticize him. Arrogance leads to ruin!”
BJP spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathi said Radhakrishnan’s arrest was the right thing to do.
Responding to Stalin’s comments, Thirupathi said: “Stalin, who is now condemning the arrest of someone who spoke in a very disparaging manner about the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister without even an ounce of responsibility, shame or self-respect – have you forgotten how, during your rule, you could not tolerate even the slightest criticism?
In a social media post on Friday, he said: “You (Stalin) spent your days making arrest after arrest and taking new actions every day. Don’t you remember how you harassed and tortured BJP workers and employees?”
Thirupathi asked: “Have you forgotten the joy you felt when you locked up critics like Savukku Shankar @SavukkuOfficial and many others under the Goondas Act?
“Arresting Anita Radhakrishnan is absolutely the right thing to do! Haven’t you realized yet that it is your arrogance that is destroying the DMK,” he claimed.
