A special court in Chennai on Monday, 2 December, sentenced BJP Tamil Nadu Coordination Committee President H Raja to six months imprisonment in a defamation case on behalf of DMK MP K Kanimozhi.
Additionally, the court sentenced him to six months imprisonment over threatening to destroy the statue of Periyar EV Ramasamy.
In April 2018, Raja posted on Twitter (now X) that he would destroy a Periyar statue and made derogatory remarks against Kanimozhi.
Following these remarks, complaints were filed against him by DMK, Congress, and the Popular Front of India (PFI) at various police stations in the state.
Based on these complaints, cases were registered against Raja at Erode Town Police Station and Karungalpalayam Police Station. Later, Raja filed a petition to quash these cases but the Madras High Court dismissed his plea and directed the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs in Chennai to complete the trial of both cases within three months.
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The trial
Following the high court order, the trial was initiated before Justice G Jayavel at the Additional Special Court for Trial of Cases related to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu in Chennai.
During the proceedings, Raja’s counsel argued there was no evidence to prove that he made remarks about the destruction of the Periyar statue and that his comments against Kanimozhi were political.
The counsel also argued that since the complaint was not filed by Kanimozhi but by a third party, it should be dismissed.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Jayavel on 14 October reserved the verdict.
On Monday, the special court pronounced its judgement, sentencing Raja to six months imprisonment in both cases. It also stated that the police had substantiated the allegations against him.
The court also imposed on Raja a fine of ₹50,000 in both cases. The court ordered that the BJP leader has to undergo imprisonment in both cases separately.
However, the court suspended the sentence when Raja’s counsel said that he would be appealing against the judgement in a higher court
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
