Political analyst Badri Seshadri arrested for his alleged remarks against judiciary

Tamil Nadu police on Saturday arrested Badri Seshadri, a renowned political analyst and publisher, for his alleged remarks against the judiciary while discussing the Manipur issue on a YouTube channel.

Badri had reportedly commented on Supreme Court Chief Justice DY Chandrachud for his statement that “if the government does not take action, we will.” The police have registered a case against him under Sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (causing fear and alarm in public) of the IPC. The arrest came after Kaviyarasu, a lawyer and resident of Kunnam in Perambalur district, lodged a complaint against him.

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Condemning the arrest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai said the government was resorting to arrests in a bid to combat the opinion being aired by common people. He also wondered whether arresting people whom the DMK government wanted to settle scores with was the only job of the Tamil Nadu police.

The CJI had last week urged the government to step in and take action in the case of viral video of Manipur women being paraded naked by a group of men. “We are very deeply disturbed about the videos distributed yesterday. We are expressing our deep concern. It is time that the government steps and takes action. This is unacceptable,” Chandrachud said.

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The Supreme Court asked the government to inform about the steps being taken to ensure the accused are booked. The apex court asserted that it will be forced to initiate action if the government doesn’t. “Using women as instruments of perpetrating violence in a hostile environment is simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy,” said the CJI.