Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The Madras High Court today refused to quash the criminal case filed against Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai for his alleged claim that it was a Christian missionary NGO that had first filed a case before the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the bursting of crackers during Deepavali.

The FIR against Annamalai has been filed on the complaint of Environmental activist V. Piyush of Salem. Piyush alleged that Annamalai made the false claim during an interview given to a YouTube channel on October 22, 2022, just two days before the Deepavali festival that year. He also claimed that the video of the interview was also widely shared on social media.

V. Piyush stated that it was actually a senior lawyer’s minor son who had filed the first case against bursting of crackers in the Supreme Court. Therefore, he alleged that Annamalai made the false claim to deliberately fan communal hatred against Christians.

Today, the bench of Justice N Anand Venkatesh pronounced the order, which had been reserved on February 1.

Justice Venkatesh pronounced that Annamalai's petition to quash the FIR against him has been dismissed and the trial court can proceed with the matter without being influenced by the observations made by him.

During the earlier hearings, the court was informed that despite the complaints before the Home Secretary, Director General of Police and the Salem Commissioner of Police through e-mail as well as via registered post, since no action was taken, therefore, the complainant had to file a petition before a Magistrate in November 2022  for registeration of an FIR against Annamalai.

However, on December 7, 2022, the complainant was informed by the Salem cyber crime police his complaint was being closed since no case had been made out for registration of an FIR. To this, the complainant submitted extra evidence and secured government approval in October 2023, under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to prosecute Mr. Annamalai.

Annamali challenged the FIR stating that his statement had been twisted with the sole intention of making out a case under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He asserted that there had been no objections from the Christian community thus far, and there were no reported disturbances to public tranquility due to it.

Case Title: K.ANNAMALAI VS V.PIYUSH