Madras HC stays proceedings against Ponmudi over derogatory remarks

Chennai: Madras high court on Thursday stayed all further proceedings of the complaint made by BJP West Mambalam councillor Uma Anand against former DMK minister K Ponmudi, for his alleged derogatory remarks against Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and women made in a public meeting.Justice A D Jagadish Chandira passed the interim order on a plea moved by Ponmudi seeking to quash the complaint made by Uma Anand pending before a metropolitan magistrate court, Chennai.On Feb 27, admitting the private complaint, III metropolitan magistrate N Vasudevan issued summons to Ponmudi. The issue pertains to a speech made by Ponmudi in a public gathering. Subsequently, the Madras high court initiated a suo motu proceeding against the former minister. Though the court closed the suo motu proceeding, the court observed that a person occupying a high position must refrain from making such remarks in a public speech. The magistrate in his order observed that a prima facie case was made out against the accused for offences under Section 196(i)(a) (attempting to promote disharmony between different religious, racial, language, or regional groups/castes using spoken/written words, signs, or electronic communication), 299 (malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and 302 (deliberate wounding of religious feelings) of BNS.