Derogatory comments against women: Madras high court quashes state women commission's order against C Ve Shanmugam

CHENNAI: In a reprieve to AIADMK Rajya Sabha member and former law minister C Ve Shanmugam, the Madras high court on Wednesday quashed an order passed by the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, which directed the DGP to initiate criminal proceedings against Shanmugam for his alleged derogatory remarks against women.

Justice A D Jagadish Chandira passed the order while allowing a plea moved by Shanmugam challenging the order of the commission dated Nov 11, 2025. The court quashed the order primarily on procedural grounds.


As per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, the commission does not constitute the chairperson alone and it comprises five members as well. However, the summons issued against Shanmugam, and the recommendation issued to the DGP was signed only by the chairperson, the court pointed out.

“In such a perspective of the matter, this court unhesitatingly holds that the proceedings initiated by the chairperson against the petitioner, including the recommendation dated Nov 11, 2025, addressed to the DGP, cannot be sustained in the eyes of law,” the judge said.

As to the allegations of the derogatory remarks made by Shanmugam, the court said, “Having gone through the petitioner’s speech, this court is of the considered view that the same cannot be, by any stretch of imagination, construed to be misogynistic in nature or demeaning the womenfolk of the state.”

“Instead, it can only be construed as a critique of the policy of the govt giving freebies. Just because of the fact that the petitioner had stated that along with other commodities, the govt may announce even one wife free to each citizen, it can no way be inferred or understood that the petitioner, by his speech, has equated women with commodities given by the govt gratis,” the judge added.