On 27 December 2024, the Madras High Court ordered the suspension of a six-month prison sentence for Tamil Nadu BJP Coordination Committee President H Raja in connection with two defamation cases stemming from controversial remarks against DMK MP Kanimozhi and EVR made in 2018. The suspension will remain in place until the appeals against the trial court’s verdict are resolved.
Justice L. Victoria Gowri, sitting in a vacation court, issued the ruling on Raja’s petitions challenging the trial court’s decision. The judge instructed the prosecution to submit a response to Raja’s appeal and postponed the matter for four weeks.
The Additional Special Court for cases involving MPs and MLAs had convicted Raja in two separate cases for making derogatory comments in 2018 about Kanimozhi and for threatening to dismantle the statues of Periyar, similar to the way statues of Communist leader Lenin were torn down in Tripura. In addition to sentencing him to six months in prison for each case, the court imposed a fine of ₹3,000.
Raja argued that the FIR was filed five months after the alleged incident, with no explanation for the delay. He also claimed the complaint had “basic illegality” because it was a joint complaint. The appeals contended that the FIR lacked details about who first saw the objectionable material, where it was discovered, and whether all the complainants had viewed it together or separately. Furthermore, Raja’s appeal stated that only a screenshot of the material was presented in court, and there was no evidence to prove that Raja had published the objectionable content.
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