H. Raja sentenced to prison for derogatory social media posts

Senior BJP leader H. Raja was convicted and sentenced to six months of imprisonment in two separate cases booked against him in connection with his posts on the social media platform X (then Twitter), in which he threatened to demolish the statues of Dravidian ideologue Periyar and made a veiled and defamatory reference to DMK MP K. Kanimozhi.

Senior BJP leader H. Raja was convicted and sentenced to six months of imprisonment in two separate cases booked against him in 2018 in connection with his posts on the social media platform X (then Twitter), in which he threatened to demolish the statues of Dravidian ideologue Periyar and made a veiled and defamatory reference to DMK MP K. Kanimozhi.

In one of the cases, the prosecution alleged that Mr. Raja, being the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had posted a derogatory message on his X (then Twitter) handle, stating that the statues of Periyar must be demolished in Tamil Nadu the same way that the statues of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin were razed in Tripura.

Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam lodged complaints against him with the Erode Town and Karungalpalayam police stations in Erode district. In 2018, the Erode Town police registered a case against Mr. Raja.

The message had created tension in Tamil Nadu, and public peace and tranquillity were greatly disturbed as a result, the prosecution alleged.

Delivering the judgement in the case, G. Jayavel, Assistant Sessions Judge, Additional Special Court for trial of criminal cases related to MPs and MLAs, said the evidence available on record shows that pursuant to the message, tension prevailed among the followers of Periyar. “This alone is enough to prove disturbance to public peace and tranquillity... pursuant to the message, the statue of Periyar was damaged in Tirupattur,” the judge said.

The judge convicted Mr. Raja for offences under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation, with intent to cause riot) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to six months of simple imprisonment for each section. The judge ordered that the sentences would run concurrently, and also imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on him.

Another case was booked by the Erode Town police against Mr. Raja following a complaint by P. Selvaraj, former Minister and a senior functionary of the DMK, for publishing a defamatory statement on X (then Twitter) against DMK leader and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi while making a veiled reference to his daughter and DMK MP Kanimozhi.