CHENNAI: Madras High Court has ordered the quashing of the FIR registered against Union Minister of State for MSME and Labour and Employment Shobha Karandlaje over her comments against Tamils in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast.
Justice G Jayachandran, on Thursday, passed the orders, while allowing her petition praying for quashing the FIR registered by the cybercrime wing of Madurai city police, following the submission of the Advocate General PS Raman that her apology tendered through an affidavit in the court was accepted by the state government on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu.
Karandlaje’s counsel Hariprasad filed the affidavit on Tuesday, stating that she had the “highest respect and regard to the history, rich culture, tradition and to the people of Tamil Nadu” and had no intention whatsoever to hurt the sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu.
Citing that she had already expressed regret over the comments, the BJP leader from Karnataka said in the affidavit that she “once again tender apology to the people of Tamil Nadu for having caused any hurt”.
The cybercrime wing of the Madurai city police registered the FIR under sections 153, 153 A, 505 (1) (b) and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for provoking with intent to cause rioting, promoting enmity among groups, making statements conducing to public mischief instigating against the state and creating enmity between classes based on a complaint lodged by C Thiagarajan regarding her comments made over the bomb blast occurred in March, 2024.
In her petition, she termed the FIR politically motivated, an abuse of process, ex-facie malicious and hits at the core of Article 21 that protects life and personal liberty. Explicit reference to two communities and pitting them against each other are necessary for applying Sections 153A and 505(2) of the IPC, however, this is not alleged in the FIR, her petition said.
Pointing out that prior sanction from the competent authorities of the government is required to register cases under section 153 of IPC, she said the absence of sanction under Section 196 of CrPC vitiates the charges under 153(A), 505(1)(b) and 505(2).