CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday refused to quash cases filed against former BJP national secretary H Raja by the police.
“The petitioner has the proclivity to make irresponsible and damaging comments and that is the reason why he gets into trouble,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed while disposing of petitions filed by Raja seeking to quash the cases.
The police filed cases against Raja for posting defamatory tweets against former chief minister M Karunanidhi and Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi on September 17, 2018 and Periyar EV Ramasami on March 6, 2018. Another case was also filed against Raja for making “scandalous remarks” against Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department officials.
The cases were filed at police stations in various districts, and Raja had moved petitions before the High Court to quash the cases. Dismissing the petitions, Justice Anand Venkatesh said, “This court does not find any ground to interfere with criminal proceedings initiated against the petitioner.”
The court also took cognizance of multiple FIRs filed for the same offence. “The same incident has resulted in three proceedings and the petitioner cannot be independently made to undergo trial in all the cases. Accordingly, all the three proceedings will have to be consolidated into a single proceeding,” the order copy read.
Justice Anand Venkatesh also directed to consolidate multiple proceeding into a single proceeding and ordered to transfer the cases to special court for MP/MLAs. Accordingly, the case for making scandalous remarks against HR and CE officials case has been transferred to Srivilliputhur special trial court, and the case for making defamatory remarks against Periyar, Karunanidhi and Kanimozhi has been transferred to special trial courts in Chennai and Erode respectively. The high court also ordered the special trial courts to complete the trial within three months.