CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Central Crime Branch police to inform it before arresting BJP leader S Ve Shekher against whom a criminal case under the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act 1971 is pending.
This follows a submission from State Public Prosecutor A Natarajan that the accused had appeared before the police on Monday in response to 41-A notice and has been told to appear again on August 28 for further enquiry.
Justice A D Jegadish Chandra, before whom the bail application from Shekher came up for hearing on Monday, adjourned the matter till August 28. The court should be informed if the police want to arrest him before that date, the judge added.
PP Natarajan told the judge that Shekher had uttered offensive remarks about the National Flag and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Originally, the CM had condemned the act of putting a saffron cloth on the statue of former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran and saffron paint on the statue of E V R Periyar. Reacting to this, Shekher gave a different meaning in a video uploaded on social media.
According to Shekher, the National Flag contains saffron colour denoting the Hindus, white the Christians and green the Muslims. He also wondered whether the CM would desist from hoisting the Flag on Independence Day just because it contained saffron colour. This insult to the National Flag amounted to a criminal act under Section 2 of the 1971 Act, Natarajan added.
Following an online complaint with the Greater Chennai Corporation from a resident, Rajarathinam of Nungambakkam, the city police on August 13 registered the case against Shekher for an offence under Section 2 of the 1971 Act.