Less than 24 hours after being arrested and released on station bail for allegedly posting obscene and defamatory comments against a girl student online, J Sumitha, Principal (in-charge) and Faculty-in-Charge (FAC) of a Government Women’s College in Tirunelveli, on Wednesday, 7 January 2026, attended an official government function to distribute laptops to students, sharing the stage with the local MLA and senior officials.
Less than 24 hours after her arrest along with her husband for allegedly posting obscene and abusive comments against a girl student on YouTube, J Sumitha, Principal (in-charge) of a government women’s college in Tirunelveli, on Wednesday shared stage with the DMK MLA at an… https://t.co/AKHThJQhNd pic.twitter.com/LvGp8S4lvr
— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) January 7, 2026
The event triggered protests by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), whose members opposed Sumitha’s presence at the function. Police personnel removed the protesting students from the venue.
— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) January 7, 2026
According to police sources, Sumitha and her husband, Ponudurai, a bank staff member, were arrested by the Tirunelveli City Cyber Crime Police on Tuesday (6 January 2026) evening following a complaint filed by a girl student. The student had earlier approached the district administration alleging harassment by the principal. After the matter received media attention, obscene and defamatory comments were allegedly posted against the student on YouTube from accounts linked to the accused.
Police said the complaint was received through an online portal and that a technical analysis traced the origin of the posts to the couple’s computer using its IP address. Based on this, a case was registered under provisions of the Information Technology Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for posting obscene and defamatory content.
After their arrest, the couple were questioned for several hours and later released on station bail. Police officials stated that further investigation into the case was ongoing.
— Thinakaran Rajamani (@thinak_) January 7, 2026
SFI district secretary Sylas Arul demanded that departmental action be initiated against Sumitha, including her suspension, citing the seriousness of the allegations and her continued participation in official programmes despite the arrest.
When contacted, P Victoria Thangam, Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education, said she had not received any formal communication from the Commissioner of Police regarding Sumitha’s arrest. She claimed that the principal had been falsely implicated and stated that someone else may have accessed Sumitha’s social media account to post the objectionable content. She added that the matter had been brought to the notice of the Commissioner of Collegiate Education.
Commissioner of Police N Manivannan said that a written communication detailing the arrest and case registration was in the process of being sent to the Collegiate Education Department.
Source: The New Indian Express
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