H Raja sentenced to 6 months in jail for comments on Periyar, Kanimozhi

A special court in Chennai on Monday (December 2) sentenced senior BJP leader H Raja to six-month imprisonment in two separate cases for defamatory comments against DMK MP Kanimozhi, and saying rationalist social reformer Periyar EV Ramaswamy's statues would be razed.

Raja's advocates indicated their intention to appeal to the Madras High Court. The court then allowed a 30-day stay of the imprisonment in cases related to defamatory speech against Kanimozhi and his 2018 social media post allegedly saying the statues of rationalist social reformer Periyar would be razed.

Fines paid

Court sources told The Federal that Raja's legal team immediately paid fines of Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 in the two separate cases and received permission from the judge to file an appeal.

Accepting the request, Special Court Judge G Jayavel, who had earlier ruled Raja guilty, ordered the suspension of the imprisonment. Raja's supporters, who were shocked at the verdict, expressed relief at the suspension.

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The BJP leader, back in 2018, published a Facebook post claiming that the statue of Periyar would be razed, just like the statue of Vladimir Lenin in Tripura. When there was a storm of opposition both on social media and through protests by many political organisations, he later claimed that the post had not been written by him.

A post, an apology

He issued an apology, stating that the post had been made by one of the administrators of his page without his permission.

"The post on my Facebook page was made by one of the admins of my page without my permission. As soon as I came to know about it, I deleted the post," he wrote on his Facebook account. He also clarified that he had no intention of hurting anyone.

"We must respond through statements and opinions, not through violence. I have no intention of hurting anyone. It is not correct to deface the statue of Periyar," he added. He also requested people to maintain peace and express views on Hinduism in a constructive manner.

Comment on Kanimozhi

The second case against Raja was related to his comments about Kanimozhi. He claimed that Kanimozhi was the 'illegitimate child' of former Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi.

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In both cases, Raja moved to the High Court and the Supreme Court to quash the FIRs registered against him for these comments.

Dismissing his petition, Madras High Court Justice Anand Venkatesh said Raja's comments bordered on hate speech. He noted that while every person is entitled to differ from the views, thoughts, and ideologies of Periyar, Raja had crossed the 'Lakshman rekha' by making statements that directly affected the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu who follow Periyarism.

In the case involving Kanimozhi, the court observed that Raja's message had a negative connotation and portrayed her insensitively.

Dismissing his petition in April 2024, the Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra, orally commented on the need for politicians to be more circumspect in their public comments.