The Madras High Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings against lyricist Vairamuthu, pursuant to the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against him at the Kolathur police station here, for having allegedly hurt religious sentiments by quoting certain remarks about Vaishnavite minstrel Andal in an article published in a Tamil daily on January 8.
Justice M.S. Ramesh granted an interim stay after observing that he was unable to comprehend how the lyricist, who has now moved the court to quash the FIR, could be prosecuted “for having quoted from the book Indian Movements: Some Aspects of Dissent, Protest and Reform, in which Andal had been described as a devadasi.”
The judge chose to pass the interim order despite a government counsel contending that the article penned by Mr. Vairamuthu, “when read as a whole, portrays Andal in bad light.”
Though the prosecution opposed the grant of stay, the judge agreed with the petitioner’s counsel, Veera Kathiravan, that a prima facie case had been made out for the same. During the course of arguments, G. Devarajan, a person unconnected with the case, sought the permission of the court to get himself impleaded in the case to oppose the plea to quash the FIR. Rejecting his plea, the judge said: “Don’t politicise the matter.”
The judge permitted the prosecution and the complainant, D. Muruganantham to file their counter affidavits by January 25.
