Court cannot accept derogatory comments against women, says MHC in H Raja case

CHENNAI: The court cannot allow any derogatory comments against women in any manner, says Madras High Court, and reserves order in a batch of petitions filed by BJP senior H Raja.

The former BJP MLA H Raja filed a batch of petitions to quash criminal cases filed against him. The petitions were listed before Justice N Anand Venkatesh.

A case was filed against Raja for making derogatory comments against women in a public speech at Vedasandur, Dindigul while pointing out the irregularities happening in Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE).

The senior counsel Paul Kanagaraj appeared for Raja advocated that the comment was not meant to defame women but to expose the bribe done by the HR&CE officials. Out of anguished he expressed such a comment and tendered an apology.

However, the judge refused to accept the submission and observed that the same person already made a defamatory comment and tendered an apology before this court. He cannot paint any women with whatever color he wants, observed the judge, and said these kinds of activities cannot be accepted.

During the hearing, the other comments made by H Raja were also discussed. It may be noted that in one case Raja's Twitter handle posted a demolished video of Lenin's statue in Tripura with a tweet "this will happen to Periyar statue in Tamil Nadu". Another case was also filed against Raja for a derogatory tweet comment against Kanimozhi MP.

However, Paul Kanagaraj submitted that Raja's comment was not meant to create a clash between the two groups and sought to quash the cases.

After hearing, Justice Anand Venkatesh came down heavily against the saffron leader and reserved orders.