The Tamil Nadu police, which has not arrested DMK functionary Shivaji Krishnamoorthy who had abused and threatened to shoot down Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi with terrorists, went all the way to Gujarat to arrest a BJP cadre who had made satirical social media posts on Chief Minister MK Stalin and his father late Karunanidhi. No Action Against Man Who Abused & Threatened To Kill TN Guv
Since assuming power, the DMK has been going after its critics and other individuals who criticize the party and its leaders on social media.
The Tamil Nadu police arrested John Ravindranath alias John Ravi, son of Soundrarajan, after he tweeted taking jibes at DMK leaders MK Stalin and Karunanidhi.
John Ravi’s Tweets
On 21 February 2023, John Ravi had posted s picture of MK Stalin sitting on the steps of Tiruvarur Temple tank with the caption “Who had said that the ladies are coming here to bathe at night?”
In another post, he had shared a picture where DMK Minister Duraimurugan can be seen holding Karunanidhi by the jaw with the satirical caption conveying a fictional conversation between the leaders.
Duraimurugan says “Thalaivare, you could’ve gone to second show cinema instead of giving birth to a nincompoop and burdening on our heads”, to which Karunanidhi replies “I had indeed gone to the cinemas”.
Tamil Nadu Police Or DMK’s Mercenary?
The privately run Twitter handle ‘ITW Reports’, run by the DMK IT Wing, filed a complaint against BJP cadre John Ravi. Following the filing of the FIR, John Ravi was apprehended by Tamil Nadu police, from Gujarat’s Veraval.
It is reported that the Tamil Nadu Police did not follow due process of law in filing of the FIR and during the arrest. Many noted that the police did not follow the Supreme Court’s Arnesh Kumar guidelines, which states that arrests should be made only when the punishment is more than seven years in prison.
It is said that the Tamil Nadu police allegedly broke into John Ravi’s offices in Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari, and Chennai without lawful authorization.
It is also claimed that 15 police officers knocked on the door of John Ravi’s house in Chennai when his daughter was alone late at night before arresting him. Tamil Nadu Police also asked John Ravi’s daughter, who had nothing to do with the case, to report to the Tharamani Police station in order to harass his family. However, after intervention by the BJP Lawyer wing led by Asuvathaman, the police backed off.
It is also claimed that the Tamil Nadu police did not notify John Ravi’s family about the cases filed against him and where he was being held.
In this situation, Hindu Munnani slammed the DMK government for arresting BJP cadre for a Twitter post but not arresting YouTubers like U2Brutus who abused Hindu gods and DMK leaders like Saidai Sadiq who had made obscene remarks against BJP leader Khushbu. No action has been taken against Shivaji Krishnamoorthy who had abused abused PM Modi, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and Annamalai despite complaint being filed by Raj Bhavan.
DMK’s Crackdown On Critics
Immediately after the DMK came to power, political commentator Kishore K Swamy was arrested on June 14, 2021, for allegedly ‘defaming’ DMK leaders MK Stalin, Karunanidhi and Annadurai. The arrest was made based on a complaint by a Kanchipuram DMK functionary.
Kishore K Swamy in his tweet had just quoted parts of a writing by Tamil poet Bharathidasan who had written about Annadurai saying that Annadurai took his niece to a wealthy man’s house to earn money.
Kishore K Swamy had also made several posts criticizing MK Stalin and his father M. Karunanidhi.
For this ‘heinous’ crime of criticizing DMK leaders, he was incarcerated and slapped with the Goondas Act languishing in prison for around 6 months.
In another similar case, Kalyanaraman of BJP Tamil Nadu was arrested for allegedly derogating Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his late father Karunanidhi.
Kalyanaraman had in a tweet posted a picture of a page from a book which talks about V. Anaimuthu’s comments on EVR’S wife Maniammai quoting from another book titled “Periyar Kolgaiku Kuzhithondiya Dravidar Kazhagam” (Dravidar Kazhagam, the one which buried Periyar’s principles).
BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for allegedly criticizing the DMK government.
He had responded to a DMK executive on social media who had made derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for which he was arrested and later released on bail following a protest by BJP cadres.
Dakshinamurthy alias Seethaiyin Mainthan, a YouTuber and a Tamil nationalist ideologue was arrested on October 15, 2021 for releasing a documentary that exposed the lesser known and hidden facts about E.V. Ramasamy Naicker also known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers.
An FIR was filed against Tamil magazine Vikatan, YouTuber Maridhas and political commentator ‘Savukku’ Shankar for speaking against G Square Realtors, a real estate company reportedly close to the DMK family.
Karthik Gopinath, a prominent Tamil YouTuber who runs the Ilaya Bharatham YouTube channel, was arrested by the Tamil Nadu police on Monday (May 30, 2022).
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