CHENNAI: BJP state convenor H Raja has been sentenced to imprisonment of six months each in two separate cases, for his derogatory comments against DMK MP Kanimozhi and threatening to raze Periyar statues the way Communist leader Lenin’s was destroyed in Tripura.
Judge of the additional special court for cases relating to MP/MLAs G Jayavel pronounced the orders on Monday convicting and sentencing him in the cases registered by the Erode district police based on complaints from DMK and TPDK following his derogatory comments made through social media.
In 2018, Raja, in a post on Twitter, said that Periyar’s statues have to be pulled down. In another post, he insinuated that Kanimozhi was an ‘illegitimate child’ of the late DMK leader M Karunanidhi. Criticising reporters for posing questions to the governor, he asked whether they would pose questions to the leader (Karunanidhi) who had sent his “illegitimate child” to the Rajya Sabha.
The judge sentenced him to undergo a prison term of six months each and a total fine of Rs 3,000 on three counts of charges – provoking to cause riot, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, and intending to insult the modesty of a woman – under sections 153, 504 and 509 of the IPC in connection with the case of derogatory remarks against Kanimozhi. Six months imprisonment each and a total fine of Rs 2,000 on two counts of charges under sections 153 and 504 of the IPC was handed down for his post on razing Periyar statues.
The judge ordered Raja to serve the terms concurrently. He suspended the sentence for thirty days, as sought by Raja’s counsel, to enable him to file an appeal.
The judge held that the evidence, on record, shows that tension prevailed among Karunanidhi’s followers, his family members and DMK partymen pursuant to the messages posted by the accused. “This alone is enough to prove disturbance to public peace, tranquility and insult to the modesty of woman,” he said, adding that all the ingredients for the offences under aforementioned sections “is proved beyond reasonable doubts”.Also, the judge said the court is convinced that Raja made the post from his account.
Raja’s attempts to get the FIRs quashed by the High Court had gone futile twice. The court dismissed his petitions in 2023 and 2024 with a direction to the special court to expedite the trial.
‘My fight will go on’
H Raja on Monday said that for six decades, he’s been striving for an ideology, and in due course, he has to face the problems that crop up, legally. “My political fight against the Dravidian stocks will continue,” he said