CoP faces flak for Pak remark, Gayathri seeks legal remedies

Interacting with the media on Friday, Gayathri Khandhadai and other activists said they were exploring legal remedies against the Commissioner, and also sought an apology from the police chief for defaming her.

The press meet was also attended by prominent lawyers R Vaigai, Sudha Ramalingam and T Mohan, writer V Geetha, activist Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam.

As for the legal recourse, the lawyers said that they were going to move the court to cancel the FIR against the protesters, and to make the Commissioner accountable for alleging Pakistan links and revealing Gayatri’s personal details even before the investigation.

While talking about the police action against protesters, advocate Vaigai said that it has become worse than emergency period. She alleged that the city police chief was settling score with Gayatri and lawyer Mohan personally because those two had helped her in getting an adverse HC order against Viswanathan in connection with case linked to the police–lawyers clash in 2009 in High Court campus.

“In this background, the Commissioner has gone to the extent of breaking the privacy of the woman lawyer and hinting possible link to Pakistan. After his press meet, thousands of trolls targeted her on social media,” she added.

Advocate Sudha Ramalingam said that the word Pakistan was not unparliamentary or banned, and added that there was no law that one should not visit or speak with the citizens of Pakistan. Government officials and thousands of people visit Pakistan every year. “The Commissioner has simply created sensation using her research at Pakistan to portray her as a criminal. Pakistan has been listed in the list of friendly countries, and recently even the Prime Minister visited the country,” said Sudha Ramalingam.

Speaking to the media, Gayatri said that she was being targeted on social media after the Commissioner disclosed her details during a press meet.  “While the police claim an elderly person have complained about us stating that we drew kolam in front of his house, the FIR says that the police action was suo motu,” she pointed out.

“I thank the Commissioner for making my research popular,” she said sarcastically. Her research was on the torture of minority communities in eight countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, she clarified. “I have written on how rationalists were prosecuted in Bangladesh and Ahmadiyyas were prosecuted in Pakistan,” she added.