A special court in Chennai acquitted Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) VS Babu and four others in a 22-year-old assault case, on Friday, January 10.
On August 29, 2002, at the Chennai Municipal Corporation meeting, Ma Subramanian, VS Babu and four others, who were members of the corporation council at the time, were accused of assaulting All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) council members. The DMK, in 2002, was the principal opposition.
A fight reportedly broke out between the DMK and the AIADMK at the meeting chaired by the then Deputy Mayor R Thiagarajan while discussing the proposal for a fish market at Kannappar Thidal – a temporary shelter where 64 families that dwelled on Egmore constituency’s roads were housed. Following arguments they reportedly attacked each other with microphones and plastic chairs.
AIADMK council members had filed a complaint with the Periamet police in Chennai against the then DMK council members Ma Subramanian, VS Babu, Sivaji, Tamilvendan, Nedumaran, Selvi Soundarya, and Krishnagiri Moorthy. The Periamet police filed a case against the seven under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 147 punishment for rioting), 324 (intentional infliction of harm using dangerous weapons), and 341 (wrongful restraint) and section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage & Loss) Act, 1992.
The police, however, only filed a chargesheet in 2019 and the case was heard in a Special Court by Justice G Jayavel. More than 70 witnesses were cross-examined and the court acquitted the seven DMK men.