Madras High Court grants bail to accused of cutting sacred thread of Brahmin man

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court today granted bail to all four accused in a case relating to the March 7 attack on a Brahmin man, whose sacred thread was cut, here.

When the bail pleas of Ravanan, Umapathy, Prabakaran and Rajesh came up, Justice A D Jagdhish Chandira granted conditional bail to the four and ordered them to stay in Salem and sign the register before the police there until further orders.

Volunteers of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, a fringe outfit, had allegedly cut the sacred thread of a Brahmin man in Triplicane area here on March 7.

The incident had come against the backdrop of protests against BJP leader H Raja's comment on social media advocating the removal of rationalist leader Periyar's statues in Tamil Nadu, for which he had later expressed regret.

When the matter came up for hearing, the petitioners argued that though the FIR had stated that they had cut the sacred thread, the victim had not filed a police complaint.

Based only on the complaint filed by passers-by the police had registered the case.