Facebook Instagram X Youtube
Friday, July 17, 2026
Facebook Instagram X Youtube
Home Blog Page 234

Dravidian Model: Funeral Procession Of Convicted Terrorist Is Allowed, Lighting Karthigai Deepam At Thirupparankundram Deepathoon Despite Court Order Is Blocked

By
The Commune
-

The DMK government has refused to permit devout Hindus from lighting the Karthigai Deepam at the Deepathoon on Thirupparankundram Hill near Madurai.

The DMK government has violated the Madras High Court order by preventing Hindus from lighting the lamp at the Thirupparankundram Hill’s traditional spot.

However, this very DMK government had allowed Islamists to carry out a funeral procession of a convicted terrorist who masterminded the 1998 Coimbatore blast that killed 58 people.

Deepam Blocked Despite Court Order

A Madras High Court division bench had permitted the Karthigai Deepam to be lit at the Deepathoon, a stone formation documented in earlier government publications and historically associated with Deepam lighting. The bench explicitly dismissed the State’s claim that allowing the lamp could trigger communal tension, holding that lawful religious practice cannot be restricted on vague apprehensions.

However, on the day of the festival, police erected barricades, issued last-minute restrictions, and prevented devotees including the petitioners who secured the order from reaching the spot. HR&CE officials argued in court that the pillar was merely a “survey stone,” contradicting archival descriptions from the department itself.

The government moved an urgent appeal but continued to enforce restrictions even after the bench’s directive. This resulted in the Deepam remaining unlit at the sanctioned location.

Despite a second order asking for the Karthigai Deepam to be lit the next evening, the government refused to permit devotees on to the hill.

Contrast With Funeral Of Terror Bomb Blast Convict

SA Basha, is a name synonymous with terrorism and fear in Tamil Nadu during the 1980s and 1990s.

Following the murderous attack on former BJP National President Jana Krishnamurthi and Tirukovilur Sundaram, Syed Ahmad Basha tried to assassinate Ramagopalan at the Madurai Railway Station in 1987. He was attacked with a billhook that cut off a portion of his skull.

The Coimbatore serial bomb blasts unfolded across 11 different locations within a 12-kilometer radius. The intended target, L.K. Advani, narrowly escaped the tragedy due to a delayed flight. Many of the survivors continue to grapple with the long-lasting effects of the shrapnel and other injuries caused by the devastating explosions.

SA Basha, openly threatened to kill the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi if he visited Coimbatore in July 2003. This threat was made by Basha and eight others while speaking to journalists in the Coimbatore court premises after their conviction and life imprisonment in a case related to the murder of a Hindu Munnani leader.

When the convicted terrorist died, Tamil Nadu witnessed an entirely different administrative posture, After his death in prison, his body was brought to Coimbatore, where large crowds, long processions and coordinated mobilisation by Islamist organisations were seen.

Police presence focused on traffic and crowd management. No restrictions were placed on the scale of the gathering, and the State issued no public advisory discouraging the large procession for a convicted terrorist.

DMK critics now argue that the State adopted a lenient approach to a mass mobilisation for a terror convict while taking a prohibitive approach toward a court-permitted Hindu festival practice – that would not have harmed anyone.

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Class 12 Student Dies After Assault By Schoolmates In Dravidian Model Tamil Nadu; 15 Juniors Detained

By
The Commune
-
Thanjavur: Class 12 Student Dies After Assault By Schoolmates; 15 Juniors Detained

A Class 12 student of Arignar Anna Model Higher Secondary School near Thanjavur died on 7 December 2025 after suffering severe head injuries in an alleged assault by a group of Class 11 students in Pattiswaram. Police have detained 15 students in connection with the incident and lodged them at the Juvenile Observation Home in Thanjavur.

According to police, the attack took place on 4 December 2025 at Therodum Keelvidhi (East Car Street), close to the Durga Maa shrine. The victim was reportedly confronted by a group of juniors while walking with friends. The altercation escalated, and he was allegedly beaten with wooden clubs, leaving him critically injured.

The confrontation is believed to be an extension of a quarrel that began on 3 December 2025 during the school lunch break and traces back to tensions between the same groups three months earlier. After the attack, the assailants fled as the victim collapsed unconscious.

Classmates first took the injured student to the Pattiswaram Primary Health Centre before he was shifted to a private hospital in Thanjavur. Doctors declared him “brain dead” on 5 December 2025. Despite intensive care at Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, he died around 2:30 am on 7 December 2025.

Police said the initial FIR registered under attempt-to-murder provisions will be altered to murder following completion of the post-mortem.

Following a complaint from the boy’s parents, Kumbakonam Taluk Police detained 15 Class 11 students allegedly involved in the assault. They were produced before juvenile authorities and placed in the observation home on 5 December 2025.

Additional police security has been deployed around the victim’s residence, the school, and nearby localities to prevent any escalation.

Officials confirmed that a similar scuffle had occurred between Class 11 and 12 students in September 2025, though the matter was resolved with parental intervention at the time.

Rising Concerns Over Campus Violence

The government school has nearly 1,000 students, and the incident has renewed concerns about student safety, supervision, and conflict management in educational institutions.

This case comes amid a series of violent incidents involving students across Tamil Nadu in recent months:

In November 2025, a Class 7 student at a Social Justice Hostel in Ramanathapuram was assaulted by four seniors.

In March, a Class 11 Dalit boy in Thoothukudi had three fingers severed in an attack allegedly linked to caste tensions after a kabaddi match.

Several cases involving students carrying weapons and physical assaults, both among peers and involving teachers, have been reported from schools and colleges.

Observers note that increasing aggression among adolescents, peer conflicts escalating into violence, and exposure to violent content in media may be contributing factors.

Source: Organiser

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

CPI(M) MP John Brittas Wants Lower Age Of Consent While Admitting Children Don’t Recognise Abuse – Logic Collapses In Parliament

By
The Commune
-
CPI(M) MP John Brittas Wants Lower Age Of Consent While Admitting Children Don’t Recognise Abuse - Logic Collapses In Parliament

During a debate on amendments to the POCSO Act, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas argued that the age of consent should be revisited and possibly lowered from 18 to 16, citing court observations about consensual adolescent relationships. He simultaneously stressed the need for children to receive early awareness about sexual abuse.

Brittas said that courts, including the Supreme Court, had faced difficulties when dealing with cases involving teenage boys and girls, remarking: “The age of consent under POCSO which is at present 18 years poses difficult questions… The MP High Court said the age should be reduced to 16.”

He argued that children and parents should be given structured awareness through schools, saying, “Proper awareness should be imparted… Many children do not know whether it is abuse or not.”

Brittas’ Speech Contradicts Himself

However, his own speech revealed a contradiction that has long surrounded the age-of-consent debate – If the core problem is that “children don’t know what abuse is,” then lowering the age at which the law recognises them as able to “consent” does not solve that problem – it deepens it.

POCSO is built on the premise that minors cannot meaningfully consent because they often cannot distinguish affection, pressure, fear or manipulation from consent. Brittas himself described how 70–80% of children remain silent out of fear, how abuse is often not recognised until adulthood, and how many victims are unable to articulate what has happened to them.

These descriptions directly underline the legal rationale for keeping the age of consent at 18: children who do not recognise abuse cannot simultaneously be treated as capable of informed consent.

Brittas also repeatedly emphasised that children are unaware of abuse, do not understand boundaries, cannot articulate violations, remain silent due to fear, and realise the nature of abuse only much later in life.

These points highlight a gap in awareness and education – not a gap in the legal age of consent.

Legally and logically, awareness is provided through curriculum and schooling; consent is a legal safeguard. One does not require altering the other. The law presumes minors need protection precisely because of the vulnerabilities Brittas described in detail.

POCSO’s current structure, upheld across multiple judgments treats the age of consent as a protective threshold, not an educational tool. Lowering it does not create awareness; it simply narrows the ambit of protection.

Brittas ended by urging a “victim-centric” reform of the law. But his argument raised its own unresolved question: If children need more education to recognise abuse, how does reducing their legal protection help them recognise it earlier?

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Andhra Govt Signs MoU With Google While DMK Govt Signs MoU With Junior Kuppanna

By
The Commune
-
Andhra Govt Signs MoU With Google While DMK Govt Signs MoU With Junior Kuppanna

Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are both signing MoUs and talking about “investment” and “jobs” – but the scale, sector, and strategic vision could not be more different. One government is tying up with Google to build a multi‑billion‑dollar AI and data infrastructure hub; the other is proudly advertising an MoU with a biryani chain as if it were an economic game‑changer.

What Andhra Is Doing With Google

In October 2025, the Andhra Pradesh government signed a landmark MoU with Google in New Delhi for a 1 GW hyperscale AI‑driven data centre in Visakhapatnam. The investment figure being talked about is around ₹87,000–88,000 crore (roughly 10–15 billion USD) over five years, making it one of Google’s largest projects in Asia and its biggest in India.

This single MoU is not just another ribbon‑cutting:

It anchors an “AI City” vision in Vizag, backed by subsea cable connectivity linking India to multiple countries and strengthening digital resilience.​

It is projected to create tens of thousands to nearly 1.8 lakh direct and indirect jobs, while embedding AI skilling programmes for youth in the state.​

Whatever one’s politics, this is strategic: it bets on data, cloud, AI, digital infrastructure and high‑skill employment – sectors that drive long‑term competitiveness, tax revenue and ecosystem effects.

What Tamil Nadu Is Doing With Junior Kuppanna

Around the same time, Tamil Nadu’s official handles and allied promotional pages proudly highlighted an MoU with Junior Kuppanna Kitchens – a well‑known regional restaurant brand – for a ₹100 crore investment and about 300 jobs. On its own terms, this is a perfectly fine, mid‑sized F&B expansion: food processing, industrial kitchens, some export potential, and employment in the services sector.​

The issue is not that the state supports an F&B player; it is that the government’s propaganda machine projects this as a flagship “big push” comparable to serious industrial or technology investments. When you juxtapose a ₹100 crore MoU creating 300 jobs with a neighbour announcing a ₹87,000+ crore AI data hub creating thousands upon thousands of skilled jobs, the contrast in ambition is glaring.

Similar MoUs With “Homegrown” Businesses

We saw this at the “TN Rising” / Coimbatore F&B event, the state announced MoUs with Sri Krishna Sweets, Annapoorna, and Hatsun Agro Products, described as iconic Tamil Nadu brands.​

Indicative commitments reported:

  • Sri Krishna Sweets – about ₹100 crore for an export‑oriented sweets unit.
  • Annapoorna – about ₹300 crore for a centralised / industrial kitchen network.
  • Hatsun – about ₹860 crore to expand dairy processing and allied facilities.​

Aim: build export‑ready industrial kitchens, modern processing units, and R&D so these brands can be positioned like “Tamil Nadu’s answer to MTR/Haldiram’s”.​

The same cluster of announcements mentions E Star Foods and Podaran Foods signing MoUs for new or expanded manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu, again framed as taking regional packaged‑food brands to national and export markets.​

How the government frames this

Industries officials and social‑media campaigns frame these MoUs as a “big boost” to Tamil Nadu’s food & beverage sector, with industrial kitchens, export units and modernisation of traditional brands. and that it is helping local brands to be nurtured alongside large external investors, with Coimbatore and other cities positioned as hubs for scaling such companies.​

In substance, these MoUs are modest to mid‑sized (hundreds of crores, hundreds to low thousands of jobs) compared to mega industrial MoUs signed at GIM 2024 (EV, steel, electronics, green energy etc.). and are concentrated in F&B and FMCG rather than high‑tech, but do involve some upstream manufacturing, export orientation and brand‑building.

Scale, Vision And The Message To Investors

MoUs are not everything – many never fully materialise – but they reveal each government’s pitch to the world. Andhra Pradesh is positioning itself as a core node in India’s AI and cloud strategy:

Data centre + subsea cable + clean energy + global partners (Google, AdaniConneX, Airtel) signal confidence to other tech and infra investors.​

The presence of Union ministers and top Google leadership at the signing underlines that this is integrated into national‑level digital and AI missions.​​

Tamil Nadu, by contrast, already has a strong industrial base (automobiles, electronics, textiles, MSMEs), but the state’s recent publicised MoUs in this context are dominated by relatively modest F&B and retail plays like Junior Kuppanna or an Annapoorna & Sri Krishna Sweets. That sends a very different message: the government is more comfortable celebrating politically connected, culturally resonant brands than aggressively chasing frontier‑technology anchors.​

Opportunity Cost For Tamil Nadu’s Youth

For a state with lakhs of engineering graduates, IT workers and a significant diaspora in tech, this signalling matters. Andhra’s Google deal explicitly references AI skilling, startup ecosystems, digital transformation of governance, and allied investments from big industry. These are exactly the spaces where high‑end jobs, innovation and exports will grow over the next decade.​

Tamil Nadu’s MoU with Junior Kuppanna, even if genuine and useful within F&B, offers:

  • Mostly low‑wage, low‑skill roles in kitchens, outlets and logistics.
  • Limited technology transfer or ecosystem spill‑overs beyond food processing and branding.​

Again, the comparison is not to trash a restaurant chain; it is to ask why a government that once boasted of attracting global auto, IT and electronics majors, now chooses to highlight a biryani MoU while another state showcases a Google AI data city.

The Political Optics

There is also a deeper political contrast. In Andhra, the Google MoU is being used to project the state as reform‑oriented, investor‑friendly and future‑facing – whatever the internal debates on land, subsidies or transparency. In Tamil Nadu, the Junior Kuppanna MoU fits into a pattern where the ruling establishment is seen as increasingly focused on symbolism, friendly business groups, and social‑engineering narratives, while being relatively muted on big‑ticket tech or manufacturing anchors.​

Critics are therefore not wrong to pose the question in exactly this sharp way: when one government is signing an MoU with Google to build India’s largest AI data hub, and another is celebrating an MoU with a biryani franchise, what does that tell us about comparative priorities, seriousness, and the kind of future each state is building for its youth?

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Madras High Court Flags Rising Use Of Children For Begging At Traffic Signals, Demands TN Govt’s Plan

By
The Commune
-

The Madras High Court has issued notices to the Tamil Nadu government, directing it to formulate and explain appropriate steps to prevent the use of children for begging on roads and public spaces. The directive came on Friday during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking action against those who involve minors in begging.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan admitted the plea and suggested the state develop a concrete plan to address the issue.

The petition was filed by R S Tamilvendan, a resident of Kodambakkam, who stated he regularly witnessed women begging at traffic signals and other public places with children in their hands. He raised serious concerns about the welfare and origins of these children.

“Those children are exposed to intense heat and rain. Begging is a crime in our country,” the petitioner said. He urged the court to order authorities to verify “whether women using children for begging are their biological mothers.”

Tamilvendan further highlighted the potential for exploitation, suggesting an investigation was needed to determine “whether the children were stolen from someone else, obtained from a child trafficking gang, or rented for a price.”

Emphasizing the state’s duty, he argued, “It is the duty of the government to at least investigate and take the children to a government shelter to protect their future.” He warned of long-term social consequences, adding, “If the child grows up in such an environment, there is a possibility that they will easily become anti-social in the future.”

The petitioner also requested the court to direct authorities to probe “whether the children are given sleeping pills or drugs to sleep.”

Noting that many of the women involved are not natives of Tamil Nadu, the plea calls for a thorough inquiry into the practice. The court has admitted the petition and awaits the state government’s detailed response on its strategy to curb this exploitation and rehabilitate affected children.

Source: Times of India

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

DMK And Its Unofficial Mouthpiece TNM Tries To De-Hinduize Thirupparankundram Deepathoon As Mere ‘Survey Stone’

By
The Commune
-
DMK And Its Unofficial Mouthpiece TNM Tries To Establish Thirupparankundram Deepathoon As Survey Stone

As the Thirupparankundram Karthigai Deepam issue intensifies, the DMK government and its lackeys in the academia and media are attempting a remarkable narrative pivot: to redefine the historically recorded Deepathoon as nothing more than a colonial-era survey stone. The clearest example of this push appears in The News Minute’s (TNM) latest “ground report,” which repeatedly amplifies claims that the Deepathoon is a mere theodolite marker, despite documentary proof published by the Tamil Nadu government itself in 1981 describing the Deepathoon as a sacred hilltop lamp-lighting site.

 

TNM Tries Hard To Buttress DMK Govt’s Claims

The TNM piece repeatedly stresses that the lamp was never lit there, that the Deepathoon is a theodolite stone, that courts previously ruled in favour of lighting only at Uchchipillaiyar Temple, that the judge’s order is ‘questionable’ and that ‘Hindu groups’ aim to provoke communal tension.

Each of these talking points tracks neatly with the DMK’s line in court, in press conferences, and in ministerial statements.

Yet conspicuously absent is:

  • The fact that HR&CE itself argued in earlier cases that Deepathoon existed and it is not a new structure
  • Local oral traditions across decades
  • References to Sangam-era literary mentions

The contradiction between the state’s earlier position and its stance now

By ignoring the practices of the people, TNM presents the “survey stone” claim as settled fact, when it is, at best, an unverified assertion contradicted by Tamil Nadu’s own documentation.

Selective Evidence: A Feature, Not A Bug

TNM’s framing relies almost entirely on residents who oppose lighting the hilltop Deepam, activists aligned with “secular organisations”, lawyers who have long been critical of Justice GR Swaminathan, and retired officials offering technical opinions about survey stones.

But when residents who support hilltop Deepam lighting are quoted, their statements are treated as anecdotal or politically influenced.

What is missing is the foundational principle of any balanced ground report – The state’s own historical record.

By excluding it, TNM constructs a narrative bubble in which the Deepathoon has no sacred past, no ritual continuity, and no cultural legitimacy.

Why The “Survey Stone” Narrative Matters To The DMK

If the Deepathoon is accepted as a sacred site that has historical continuity and also recognised by local residents, then the state’s refusal to implement High Court orders becomes far harder to justify.

By portraying the Deepathoon as a meaningless colonial marker, the state reframes the issue as one of “law and order,” not religious freedom, the government positions itself as protecting communal harmony, anyone demanding access appears extremist or politically motivated, and judicial orders enabling ritual access can be attacked as reckless.

In effect, the “survey stone” narrative is the foundation for the government’s entire defence.

TNM frames the Deepathoon movement as a “Sangh mobilisation ignoring historical evidence.”

But the only historical evidence ignored in this debate by TNM is the one produced by the Tamil Nadu government itself in 1981.

The attempt to recast Deepathoon as a trivial colonial marker rather than a sacred ritual site recognised by Tamil scholars and residents reveals a deeper political discomfort – the Deepathoon’s historical and cultural legitimacy undermines the DMK’s current narrative.

TNM’s reportage, which seems to be more out of editorial convenience, amplifies only one side of the historical argument, that which aligns with the ruling party’s immediate political needs.

To reduce Deepathoon to a mere “survey stone” is an attempt to erase Tamil Nadu’s own documented heritage in service of a contemporary political argument.

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

DMK Supporter & Self-Styled ‘Activist’ Piyush Manush Abuses Justice GR Swaminathan

By
The Commune
-
DMK Supporter & Self-Styled 'Activist' Piyush Manush Abuses Justice GR Swaminathan

The DMK government has refused to permit Hindus to climb the Thirupparankundram Hill and light the Karthigai Deepam at the Deepathoon at the top of the hill – this, despite repeated court orders.

Amid all this, DMK supporters, the Dravidianists and Brahmin/Hindu haters have launched a tirade against Justice GR Swaminathan, given his background. One among them is self-styled ‘activist’ Piyush Manush.

He has been repeatedly targeting Justice GR Swaminathan by his caste, calling him by name and speaking disrespectfully in his videos and posts on social media.

In one video, he accuses the judge of prompting people to “set fire to Tamil Nadu”, he says, “Swaminatha, you are not telling them to light the Karthigai Deepam, you’re telling them to set fire to Tamil Nadu – what a dangerous fellow you are. ‘Sanatana books, aksu, taxu’… You are that judge who went on stage to say ‘Someone who belongs to Sanatana Dharma will never do wrong,’ That means you will not punish someone who believes in Sanatana Dharma. Won’t you, won’t you? Ayyo, this is not just about Thirupparankundram alone.”

He also references an unrelated temple dispute, accusing the judge of pressuring district authorities in a case involving a minor temple allegedly witnessing tension between Christian and Hindu communities. He mocks the judge repeatedly, saying “Swaminatha, Swaminatha,” and alleges that the judge is provoking law-and-order problems instead of preventing them.

“In another place also he’s doing the same kind of nonsense. The man calls the Collector; the Collector says, ‘21 cases have already come up, FIRs have been filed.’ In some small temple, in a temple that stands on just two cents of land, it seems there has been some clash between the Christian community and the Hindu community. To make sure no problem arises there, he (the Collector) is trying to maintain it. But this man insists, ‘No, the lamp must be lit there.’ Who is truly a good devotee, what is real devotion – we don’t know. But after seeing something, when they are trying to ensure it doesn’t turn into a law-and-order situation, you jump up against it, Swaminatha, Swaminatha. You saw, right, you saw? He, history will talk wrongly about you. In a Tamil Nadu that usually stays peaceful, you are trying to turn it into a riot park. You, Swaminatha.”

In another clip, Manush denies the historical and ritual significance of the Deepathoon site itself. He insists that the Deepathoon is “just a survey stone” allegedly placed by the British and ridicules devotees, claiming they are performing worship over “a stone used for survey work.” He further mocks Hindu traditions and labels devotees as “Sanghi fellows” who would worship “anything.”

He is seen saying, “Swaminatha, Swaminatha… that isn’t even a Deepathoon (lamp pillar), Swaminatha – only now this news has come out, and I’m honestly shocked. The name of that temple is Uchchi Pillaiyar Temple. Why is it called Uchi Pillaiyar Temple? Because for Murugan, they light the Deepam at the Pillaiyar temple that stands at the peak, that’s why it has that name. They lit the Deepam there. This man couldn’t tolerate that. For Swaminatha… actually the correct name to say is G.R. Swaminathan, he’s not just some High Court judge, ayyo, and who is he – he is “ava, ava” if you don’t show respect to ‘ava’, how can you… you, Swaminatha, ‘ava’…

That is just a survey stone, Swaminatha. They’re saying it’s some stone the British placed for their survey. Now, ayyo, for that one stone you’ve created such a big drama. Hey, Vivek’s comedy is exactly fits here – will you fellows worship anything you Sanghi fellows, why? You do some puja and go, fine. But why are you turning all of Tamil Nadu into a battleground over it?

Anyway, if you look at that stone – even I was wondering, ‘How on earth will a lamp burn on this?’ It’s just a rock. If you think about what it really is, this is all it turns out to be: a survey stone used for survey work. You’ve taken that survey stone and done all this drama around it, you Sanghi fellows.”

Piyush has a history of taunting and mocking Hindus, especially Brahmins and Hindu customs. He mocked people when the Tirupati laddoo adulteration issue broke out, he also made perverse comments about Chidambaram Dikshitars.

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Tamil Nadu Makes Government Sanction Mandatory To Prosecute Any Police Officer

By
The Commune
-
Tamil Nadu Makes Government Sanction Mandatory To Prosecute Any Police Officer

The Tamil Nadu government on 3 December 2025 issued a notification under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) making prior sanction from the state mandatory before prosecuting any police personnel of any rank for alleged offences committed while acting, or purporting to act, in the discharge of official duty.

Under the earlier Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), this protection under Section 197 applied only to certain categories of public servants and did not extend to police personnel in the ranks of inspector and below, except inspectors in the ‘Q’ Branch who were covered through a special provision in the Tamil Nadu Police (Discipline & Appeal) Rules. With the central BNSS replacing the CrPC, Section 218 now becomes the corresponding provision governing prosecution sanctions.

The BNSS, as notified by the central government, provides this protection to members of the armed forces through Section 218(2), while other public servants fall under Section 218(1). The law also grants states the discretion to extend the same safeguard to their police forces through Section 218(3), which empowers state governments to apply sub-section (2) to their personnel via notification.

Exercising this enabling power, Tamil Nadu’s Home Department has now directed that the requirement of prior sanction under Section 218 shall apply to “all the classes and categories of police personnel of the Tamil Nadu Police charged with the maintenance of public order, wherever they may be serving.”

Officials said the move ensures continuity of protections previously available under the CrPC while expanding them to cover all ranks within the police force under the BNSS regime.

The notification comes against the backdrop of a July 2024 Madras High Court division bench ruling that Section 197 protections under the old CrPC could not be extended to inspectors or those below them, making the new state-level notification significant in restoring and broadening the shield for police personnel.

Source: The New Indian Express

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Hindu Munnani Protests In Front Of Tirunelveli DMK Office, Slogans Raised Against DMK Min Sekar Babu

By
The Commune
-
Hindu Munnani Protests In Front Of Nellai DMK Office, Slogans Raised Against DMK Min Sekar Babu

Statewide protests led by the Hindu Munnani on 7 December 2025 displayed the intensified public anger over the Tamil Nadu government’s refusal to permit lighting the Deepam at the Thirupparankundram hilltop, with demonstrators in multiple districts targeting HR&CE Minister PK Sekar Babu for his remarks on the controversy.

Protests were held across Tamil Nadu after the organisation accused the government of defying consecutive High Court orders and denying Hindus their customary right to light the lamp at the Deepathoon. Crowds gathered in several districts, raising slogans against the DMK administration and alleging political interference in temple practices. Videos circulated widely on social media showed demonstrators throwing slippers at the minister’s poster, reflecting growing discontent among Hindu groups over the state’s handling of the issue.

This was especially seen in Tirunelveli district, in front of the DMK office there. Slogans were raised, his poster/photos were slippered.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tamil Janam (@tamiljanam)

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

Case Filed Against BJP Leader H Raja After Police Stop Him From Going To Thirupparankundram Amid Karthigai Deepam Row

By
The Commune
-
Case Filed Against BJP Leader H Raja After Police Stop Him From Going To Thirupparankundram Amid Karthigai Deepam Row

Senior BJP leader H Raja has been booked under three sections of law after he allegedly argued with police officers and made controversial remarks during an interception in Sivagangai district on 4 December 2025. The incident occurred while he was travelling to Thirupparankundram, where tensions have escalated over the temple Deepam issue.

According to police sources, officers led by Thiruppathur DSP Selvakumar stopped Raja’s vehicle near Kammangudi village as a precautionary measure. Raja reportedly told officers he was travelling for dubbing work related to the film Kandhan Malai and asked them not to obstruct him. A heated exchange followed, during which he is said to have made critical remarks about Tamil Nadu ministers, the Madurai District Collector and senior police officials.

Following the altercation, Nachiyapuram Police registered a case against Raja and his driver under provisions relating to obstruction of public duty, causing disruption to traffic, and making statements with the potential to incite communal tension.

The incident unfolded amid widespread debate over the Thirupparankundram temple lamp, after the Tamil Nadu government did not permit lighting the Deepam at the hilltop despite consecutive High Court orders. The state government argued that lighting the lamp near the dargah could lead to law-and-order issues and maintained that it would be lit only at the traditional location. The BJP, meanwhile, accused the DMK government of disregarding the court’s direction and curtailing the religious rights of Hindus.

Police said Raja’s remarks during the confrontation included derogatory comments about Chief Minister MK Stalin, certain ministers and police officers, prompting charges related to obstructing public servants from performing their duty, making statements with potential to incite communal sentiments and using defamatory language against public officials.

Reacting to the controversy, Raja criticised the state government for not implementing the High Court order, questioning its objection to lighting the lamp at the designated spot.

Source: Asianet Tamil

Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

1...233234235...1,931Page 234 of 1,931
TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
Facebook Instagram X Youtube

NATIONAL NEWS

NHRC Complaint Seeks Probe Into Exposure Of School Children To Undisclosed NGO, Iranian Political Messaging At Hyderabad School

NHRC Complaint Seeks Probe Into Exposure Of School Children To Undisclosed...

The Commune - 0
A complaint has been submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking an independent investigation into the alleged exposure of students at Shantiniketan...
© The Commune 2025. All Rights Reserved.