Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H Raja has been convicted and sentenced to six months of imprisonment in two cases pertaining to derogatory posts against Periyar EV Ramasamy, widely known as 'Thanthai' Periyar, who is considered the father of the Dravidian movement and DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. Special Judge G Jayavel of the Special Court for Trial of Cases Against MLAs/MPs, while passing the order on Monday, December 2, said that the remarks made by Raja were highly provocative and that such “venomous message cannot be accepted in the society governed by the rule of law.” The two cases date back to 2018 when Raja made two social media posts.
The court has, however, suspended the sentence for 30 days on a request made by Raja's counsel, allowing them to file an appeal.
The first case is that in 2018, H Raja took a veiled shot at M Karunanidhi’s daughter, Kanimozhi on X (formerly Twitter). Attacking the DMK leader for lending support to a woman journalist who had condemned Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s inappropriate behaviour towards her, Raja wrote, “Would journalists question the leader who made his illegitimate child, from an illegitimate relationship, a Rajya Sabha MP, just like they questioned the Governor? Memories of Chidambaram Udayakumar, Anna Nagar Ramesh, Perambalur Sadiq Basha would haunt them.”
Terming the post “purely reckless, defamatory, irresponsible”, the court ruled that there was no doubt that the message was offensive and derogatory against Karunanidhi and Kanimozhi. “No rational human being would accept that the message is the reaction of a prudent man,” the court said.
In this case, Raja was found guilty of and convicted under Sections 153 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment and fined ₹1,000 for each offence, with an additional one month of imprisonment for defaulting on each fine. The sentences will run concurrently, with a total fine of ₹2,000.
Similarly, when BJP won the elections in Tripura in 2018, dislodging the Communist government after 25 years, supporters of the party pulled down a statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. In relation to this, he said, “Who is Lenin, and what is his connection to India? What is the relationship between Communism and India? A Lenin statue was vandalized in Tripura.
Today it's Lenin's statue in Tripura; tomorrow, it could be the statue of caste fanaticist EVR Ramasamy in Tamil Nadu.” However, he later infamously claimed that the post was made by his “admin”.
The judge observed that ideologies might be acceptable or unacceptable for people, but it is enough to see if the ideology is good for the society or is at least doing certain good to some part of the society. “It is needless to state that the ideology of Thanthai Periyar had done a lot of good things to this country and its people…. But an ideology should always be opposed by another ideology and not to be opposed by the show of force, provocation, incitements, etc., This court has no hesitation to hold that the message as found in the social media is highly condemnable and it is also highly provocative in nature and has all the potential to disturb public harmony and peace and it may be also lead to violence and rioting's. Definitely this type of message will provoke the followers of the ideologist,” the court ruled.
The judge also slammed the BJP leader for making the provocative posts, saying, “This accused is an important Leader in the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level. He is regarded as the respectful head of the said political party, when a person raises in his life in terms of political powers and thereby claims respect from his followers and party men, it becomes equally important that he is clothed with responsibility either social or political and the same cannot be simply ignored. The greater the importance of a person, the greater is the social responsibility cast on him. But sadly, in this case, the happening appears to be vice versa.”
In this case, Raja was convicted under sections 153, 504, and 509 of the IPC and sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment for each offence, along with a fine of Rs 1,000 for each count. In case of default on any fine, an additional one month of simple imprisonment was imposed for each offence. The total fine imposed amounts to ₹3,000, and the sentences are to run concurrently.
Raja moved the Madras High Court twice – in 2023 and 2024 – seeking to quash the cases against him. However, the court refused to do so. In 2023, Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed that H Raja has the tendency to make “irresponsible and damaging comments'' and gave the example of a Thirukkural (short couplets written by Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar) on the need to watch one’s tongue to avoid facing troubles.