Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M.K. Stalin called on K. Selvarani, 43, a woman head constable, who opted to retire voluntarily from the force after she was served a memo and transferred for penning an elegy on former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, here on Tuesday.
On hearing that the woman constable — attached to the Intelligence Section (IS) of Tiruchi City — had quit her job after a video clip of her recitation of the elegy on Mr. Karunanidhi, posted on her Facebook page went viral, Mr. Stalin, who was in the city on Tuesday, sprang a surprise by visiting Ms. Selvarani at her home in K.K. Nagar.
Besides narrating the sequence of events that forced her to opt for voluntary retirement (which was accepted), Ms. Selvarani showed him the memo.
Stating that he had also viewed the video clip, Mr. Stalin told her that he would stand by her like a brother and offer all possible help to her family.
“I was moved by the DMK president’s gesture,” said Ms. Selvarani, a native of Keezha Michaelpatti in Ariyalur district.
‘Denial of freedom’
Ms. Selvarani, who holds B. Litt (Tamil) degree, told The Hindu: “No one should undergo the predicament that I face today. The memo was nothing but a denial of freedom of speech and expression. Rather than suffer mental torment, I decided to retire from the force.”
She said she suffered mental agony by the manner in which a police inspector conducted inquiries.
She had described Mr. Karunanidhi as the father of contemporary Tamil literature in her elegy.
She said the inquiry revolved around the phrases that she had used to describe him. The inspector had asked her several “inappropriate” questions, she alleged.
No political link
Ms. Selvarani said she and her family members had absolutely no political affiliation.
Ms. Selvarani had also penned an elegy on former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, titled Ammavin Alumai, when she passed away.