New Delhi-based journalist Mathew Samuel has filed a petition in the Madras High Court to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered against him and six others by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police for having circulated a video accusing Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of having played a role in the 2017 heist-cum-murder of a watchman at Kodanad Estate owned by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
The petition is expected to be listed for hearing before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on Friday.
The journalist pointed out that the FIR was registered on January 11 on the basis of a complaint lodged by AIADMK’s Information Technology wing secretary V.V.R. Raj Sathyan. Subsequently, the police arrested two accused in New Delhi on January 14 but a Magistrate refused to remand them.
Stating that the FIR had been primarily booked under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, the petitioner claimed that the provision of law was related to committing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony between religious and caste groups and it would not get attracted at all against him. He said, the documentary levels allegations against an individual and does not induce any person to commit any offence against the State. Therefore, invoking Section 505 of the IPC was wrong, he asserted.
Further, claiming that the documentary shot by him was journalistic work, he said neither the Chief Minister nor any of the ministers in his Cabinet had preferred a police complaint against him. The petitioner insisted on staying further proceedings relating to the FIR.