NEW DELHI: Filing a status report in the matter as directed by the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu DGP has informed the court that the police have taken necessary action and cases have been registered against the protesters who allegedly made caste and religion-based defamatory remarks against Justice G R Swaminathan of the Madras High Court following his order allowing the lighting of ‘Karthigai Deepam’ on the Thirupparankundram hill in Madurai.
“It is humbly submitted that the Greater Chennai Police has taken necessary action regarding the petitioner’s allegations concerning the … circulation of defamatory, derogatory, abusive and scandalous posts on social media platforms, including X, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and other digital forums,” said the affidavit filed in the top court by DGP G Venkataraman.
The submissions were in response to a plea – filed by advocate G S Mani, vice-president of the TN’s BJP legal cell – alleging that protesters had made “caste and religion-based defamatory remarks” against Justice Swaminathan with the intention of disturbing social harmony and provoking communal unrest.
A division bench of justices Aravind Kumar and P B Varale is expected to hear the case on Monday. In the affidavit, the DGP submitted that prompt and lawful action has been taken by the police authorities to maintain public order, ensure communal harmony, and uphold the dignity and independence of the judiciary, strictly in accordance with law and the directions of the courts.
“Instructions have already been issued to all superintendents of police in districts and others to take immediate and effective action to ensure that no … book having such pictorial representations, statements, caricatures, or contents tending to scandalise the court/judge is allowed to be published or circulated,” said the affidavit.
It further stated that the state has included the YouTube channels U2Brutus (@u2brutus) and Tribes (@TribesTamil), which were mentioned in the petition. Further, 10 more social media handles posting the objectionable remarks have been identified. “As these handles do not disclose the identity of the persons operating these handles, on January 30, 2026, requisitions have been sent against 19 social media handles to the nodal officers of the intermediaries concerned to remove the content, block the accounts, preserve the original URLs, and furnish the identities of the account holders for taking appropriate legal action as per law. However, replies are yet to be received,” it added.
It was submitted that the Cyber Crime Wing undertook cyber patrolling of various social media platforms to identify such prohibited content. Objectionable posts were identified and blocking requests were initiated by the State Nodal Officer under Section 79(3)(b) and Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology Rules.
The TN DGP filed the affidavit after complying with the earlier SC order (January 28) seeking response from him, the state government and other authorities in the matter.