MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court issued a notice to the state government on a petition filed by BJP state secretary SG Suriya seeking to quash an FIR filed against him in Madurai city over his social media post.
SG Suriya, in the petition, said he had earlier posted a message on social media (X formerly known as 'Twitter') stating that a ward member Viswanathan of Pennadam town panchayat compelled a sanitary worker to clean the gutter, due to which the worker fell sick and later died, and that Madurai MP S Venkadesan remained silent on the issue. Suriya added that he had mistakenly mentioned Pennadam as a part of Madurai and had later modified it.
However, the complainant, M Ganesan of Madurai, who belongs to the CPM, claimed that Suriya had intentionally attempted to create disharmony and unrest in the society by speaking against the MP. Stating that the information mentioned in the post is based on real facts, Suriya said an FIR was filed in connection with the sanitary worker's death.
He further expressed his anguish over Venkadesan's silence stating that the MP has been a whistleblower of such incidents related to bad governance by the central government. Stating that his post was reasonable and only a political reaction, Suriya added that the CPM, which is in alliance with the DMK in the state must have been influenced by a third party to register a case against him. Hearing the case on Tuesday, Justice D Nagarjun issued a notice to the state government and adjourned the case to October 18.