KARUR: After being in police custody since Sunday, social activist Mugilan was produced before the judicial magistrate in Karur at 2 am on Wednesday morning.
With the Chennai Egmore court ordering police to produce Mugilan at the Karur JM 2 court within 24 hours on Tuesday, it was expected that the activist would appear before the magistrate at 10 am on Wednesday. But Mugilan was produced before magistrate Vijay Karthik in the dead of night at 2 am.
A high-security ring was thrown around Mugilan as he was brought to the magistrate house in Karur, where he was seen raising slogans against the Thoothukudi Sterlite Factory and demanding the arrest of those who killed the protesters.
Mugilan was arrested and produced before the magistrate in Karur after a 32-year-old woman filed a sexual abuse complaint against him in Kulithalai AWPS on March 31.
After investigating, the magistrate ordered the remand of Mugilan for 15 days at the Trichy Central prison and postponed the next hearing to July 24th. Mugilan’s wife Poonkodi and his supporters later arrived at the magistrate house and met him.
Addressing the media, Poonkodi said, “Are we really in Tamil Nadu? Is this really India? This is not fair. When murderers, robbers and the corrupt are freely roaming in this country, my husband has been put behind bars. What has he done? Is protesting for the welfare of the people a big crime in this country? The court directed that he be produced in the Karur court at 10 am in the morning. But suddenly they called us in the night and asked us to come immediately to the magistrate house."
“They have been faking all these charges only to inject fear in people like him and prevent them from taking part in protests. The government is behind this. The woman had filed a complaint only because there were some influential people behind her. As he said that he would release another CD containing evidence against the Sterlite factory, they’re now trying to pressurise him. They locked him in a dark room, tortured him both physically and mentally, let dogs bite him and didn’t even provide first aid. We’ll take all necessary action and face it legally,” she concluded.
There was a heated exchange between journalists and police officials as officials had restricted the media from entering the magistrate house or meeting Mugilan by putting barricades about 100 metres from the house.