Chennai: The Madurai cyber crime police arrested Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu secretary S.G. Suryah late Friday night for a post on social media alleging that CPI(M) ward councillor in Madurai’s Pennadam town panchayat, Viswanathan (identified by a singly name only), had compelled a sanitation worker to clean a drain with faecal matter, leading to the latter’s death.
In the tweet post on 7 June, Surya had also accused Madurai Member of Parliament and CPI(M)’s Su Venkatesan of not taking any action in the case and said the MP’s “fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool, find a way to live as a human being, mate!”
அறிக்கை
கம்யூனிஸ்ட் கவுன்சிலரால் பறிபோன தூய்மை பணியாளர் உயிர் – கள்ள மெளனம் காக்கும் புரச்சீ போராளி மதுரை எம்.பி சு.வெங்கடேசன்!
பிரிவினைவாதம் பேசும் உங்கள் போலி அரசியல் அந்த மலக்குழியை விட மோசமாக துர்நாற்றம் வீசுகிறது, மனிதனாக வாழ வழி தேடுங்கள் தோழரே! @SuVe4Madurai @MaVeWriter pic.twitter.com/tAUtSMZDYI
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) June 7, 2023
Adding that the deceased belonged to a scheduled caste, he questioned the MP, “Where’s your red flag [a reference to the party colour]? Where is your fighting spirit? Where are your passionate words? If you are against the ruling BJP government, you will come forward immediately.”
Suryah’s arrest followed a complaint filed by M. Ganesh, CPI(M)’s Madurai district secretary, alleging the information shared by the BJP leader was false. He claimed there was no town panchayat by the name of Pennadam, nor any councillor called Vishwanthan. The complainant claimed that Suryah made the post with the intent to create communal tension. ThePrint has a copy of the complaint and the arrest warrant.
Calls by ThePrint to Housing and Urban Development secretary Apoorva went unanswered. However, according to the district website, Madurai has nine town panchayats and Pennadam is not one of them.
ThePrint reached Madurai commissioner of police K.S. Narenthiran Nayar over the phone for comment on the case, but didn’t get a response till the time of publication of this report.
However, a senior officer who did not wish to be named said, “The case relates to fake news peddling. There is no such place and no information of such a death.”
ThePrint also reached the complainant, M. Ganesh on call, but received no response till the time of publication of this copy. The copy will be updated when a response is received.
BJP state chief K. Annamalai has, however, condemned Suryah’s arrest and said the latter’s only mistake was to expose the double standards of the communists, allies of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
“Using state machinery to curtail free speech and getting jittery for the slightest criticism is unbecoming of a democratically elected leader and, indeed, are signs of an autocratic leader in the making,” he tweeted Saturday.
He added: “Drawing inspiration from autocrats, TN CM Thiru @mkstalin is turning the state into a lawless jungle. These arrests will not deter us and we will continue to be bearers of the uncomfortable truth!”
Other BJP leaders who came out in support of Surya included C.T. Ravi, Vanathi Srinivasan, Rajeev Chandrashekar, B.L. Santhosh and Tejasvi Surya.
‘Promoting enmity, circulating alarming news’
Targeting the CPI(M) leader in his tweet, Suryah had written, “Where have you gone now? Why doesn’t your red flag fly against your fellow comrades? Or won’t your red flag take to the streets and fight in support of the SC brothers? Your fake politics draped in red flag stinks worse than the manhole. Find a way to live as a human being, my friend.”
According to the arrest warrant, the BJP leader was arrested under Sections 153(a) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505 (1)(b) (circulating report with alarming news to create enmity with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility).
The arrest warrant also invokes sections 505 (1)(c) (intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) of the Indian Penal Code and 66(d) the IT Act (cheats by personation).
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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