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A complaint case has been filed before the  Magistrate Court in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, against the makers of the movie "Jai Bhim" for allegedly "offending movie scenes" under Sections 153, 153A(1), 499, 500, 503, 504 and 505 of Indian Penal Code.

The Complainant, Pu. Tha. Arulmozhi, resident of Puthu Polaamedu Village, Cuddalore District, is the State President of Vanniyar Sangam, founded by Dr. S. Ramadoss in the year 1980.

According to his complaint, Vanniyar Sangam has been fighting for securing social empowerment to all members of Vanniyakulsa Kshatriya communities and also to uplift the marginalized and down-trodden communities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and in other parts of the Country.

“Vanniyar Sangam has got its symbol called as “Agni Gundam” i.e. Raging flame from the Holy Pot, depicting the legendary figure of Rudra Vanniya Maharajan who sprung from the flames to destroy evils. Vanniyar Sangam has got its own exclusive symbol and flag for their identification. Agni Kundam is a sacred symbol of the Vanniyar Community for many centuries,” states the complaint.

The complaint states that Accused No 1 (M/s. 2D Entertainment Private Limited) has produced the Tamil movie titled as “Jai Bhim” and released it on an OTT Platform (Amazon Prime Video) in which accused No.2 (Suriya Sivakumar) has acted in the lead role and accused No.4 (T.J.Gnanavel) has directed the movie.

The movie has been released in the OTT platform, namely, Amazon Prime Video through accused No.5 (M/s Amazon.in) and reported to have been viewed by millions of cine-lovers and accused fans across the world.

The complainant states that, “You (the accused) have claimed in the movie itself that the story of the movie is based upon a real life story and the storyline of the movie is based upon the decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Madras.”

The complainant further states that, accused persons have retained the real names of all the characters of the real incident, in the movie also, but they have deliberately changed the name of the Sub-Inspector of Police, who had tortured the victim in police custody.

It states that, "the name of the Sub-Inspector of Police who is involved in custodial death of the under-trial prisoner was “Anthonysamy”, who was Christian by religion. In one of the scenes in the movie, the Accused Persons have shown the symbol of Vanniyar Sangam in the calendar behind this Sub-Inspector of Police, who commits the atrocity of torture in the movie.”

The allegations put forth by the Complainant are that –

• The accused have deliberately got printed a calendar of the year 1995 with the symbol of Agni Kundam with the caption of “Kshatriya Kula Manadu, Villupuram which clearly exhibits the malafide intention of accused persons of defaming the members of Vanniyar Sangam and damaging the image and reputation of entire Vanniyar community.
• The accused have deliberately named the Sub-Inspector of Police as “Guru”, resembling one of the frontline leaders of Vanniyar Sangam and have projected the said wicked person, a wrong doer, as if he belonged to Vanniyar community, thereby imputing that the members of the Vanniyar community are prone to commit such wrongs, while in real life the said Sub-Inspector does not belong to the Vanniyar community.
• The accused have deliberately displayed in the scene, the Vanniyar Sangam logo and symbol in the calendar at the house of the Sub-Inspector of Police who commits custodial torture.
• The accused have deliberately filed and framed those sequences in the movie. The symbolic representations in various sequences in the movie “Jai Bhim” are per se defamatory and intentional and targeted to defame and cause greater disrepute to the Vanniyar community.
• The accused have defamed the particular community and deliberately shown Vanniyar community in poor light for the sole purpose of sensationalising the issue and thereby earning substantial revenue by distorting facts, unmindful of its consequential damage to the image and reputation of the community.

“The movie has already been viewed by several lakhs of people and Accused have already damaged the image of the community in the eyes of right thinking people. Vanniyar community people are defamed in the eyes of public,” asserts the complainant.

Lastly, while praying to the Court to take cognizance, the complainant states that, the scenes in the movie were created to provoke communal disharmony between Vanniyar community and people of other communities.