NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, OCT 17
BJP State working committee member Kalyanaraman was arrested on Saturday, October 16 by the Chennai police for his derogatory remarks on micro-blogging handle Twitter.
Several complaints have been made against the BJP leader for his tweets against late CM Karunanidhi and abusive tweets against actor and doctor Sharmilla. There were also complaints filed by the DMK MP for Dharmapuri, Dr Senthilkumar, and advocate Maa Gopinath of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and the arrest was made on the basis of the same, reported The News Minute.
A case has been registered under sections 153(a) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth) (by words either spoken or written) and 505(2) (promoting enmity or ill will) of the IPC. This is not the first time Kalyanaraman, the Former National Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Mazdoor Mahasangh (BJMM), has been arrested.
Earlier, in February this year, he was arrested for remarks against the Muslim community and Prophet Mohammed that he made at a BJP election rally. The Coimbatore Collector K Rajamani invoked the Goondas Act against him, which was later struck down by the Madras High Court citing the state government’s delay in filing a response to the petition filed by Kalyanaraman’s wife. He was also arrested in 2016 for similar comments.
Dr Senthilkumar, MP for Dharmapuri, said, “Kalyanaraman is a habitual offender and a woman harasser. They (the BJP) think they have the liberty to do such things and think they can get away with it. They’re not ready to debate issues, they resort to name-calling women and respected political leaders instead.”
Dr Sharmilla said, “Kalyanaraman is just one example of the BJP cadre’s behaviour on social media. They resort to character assassination the minute they are unable to respond to facts. They think that if they do this, women who speak up against them will back down. This is psychological intimidation. He deserves to be in jail. I don’t think he should have ever got bail in the earlier case too. Such people are poisonous to society. They target women, create division based on religion.”
