Madras High Court quashes FIR registered against former DGP for offensive message against Stalin
The Hindu
Madras High Court quashes FIR against former DGP for sharing offensive message against Chief Minister on WhatsApp.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday quashed a First Information Report (FIR) registered against former Director General of Police R. Natraj, 72, for having allegedly forwarded an offensive message against Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to a private WhatsApp group of around 70 members in 2023.
Justice G. Jayachandran quashed the FIR on condition that the former DGP must circulate in the same WhatsAPP group a copy of an affidavit filed by him in the court wherein he had stated that he had high regard for the Chief Minister. The affidavit was ordered to be circualted within 24 hours.
The orders were passed after hearing Advocate General P.S. Raman who submitted that the police would not be interested in prosecuting the retired DGP if the latter honestly regretted his act. On his part, Senior Counsel B. Kumar vehemently denied the charge of his client having shared the offensive message.
The court was also told that the quash petitioner does not subscribe to or endorse the offensive message in any manner whatsoever. It was some other individual who had shared the message on X, a public platform, and it had led to registration of the FIR on the basis of a complaint lodged by a third party, Mr. Kumar said.
Advocate A. Sheela of Tiruchi had lodged the complaint with the cyber crime police after coming across a supposed screenshot of the WhatsApp group on another person’s X handle, the Senior Counsel said.
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