EC seeks action against woman behind viral video against DMK

CHENNAI: A woman, who made an inflammatory viral video on the DMK’s promise to help inter-caste couples, is set to be penalised. The Election Commission has told the Director General of Police to take action against her and remove the video from social media, days after DMK lodged a complaint regarding the video.

The video, which is in Tamil, promotes enmity between groups, which is punishable under Section 153A of the IPC, State Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said.“The woman has not disclosed her identity or political affiliation. However, her hate speech should be removed immediately from WhatsApp and other social media platforms,” Sahoo wrote to the DGP, and asked the police to identify and take legal and penal action against her.

The DMK manifesto, which was released on March 13, promised to give new impetus to the Anjugam Ammal Memorial Inter-caste Marriage Assistance Scheme, which was introduced in 1967. The scheme is now implemented under the name of late social activist Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, and offers inter-caste couples cash assistance of Rs 50,000 and eight grams of gold.

The DMK, in its manifesto, promised to increase the cash assistance to Rs 60,000, in cases where one of the partners is from the SC or ST community. Soon, videos went viral on social media, asking members of dominant castes to protect their women. In one such video, a woman said that if a woman from a dominant community marries a man from a Scheduled Caste, the DMK would give them Rs 60,000 and eight grams of gold. She listed out the various dominant castes, urged members of the communities to be cautious of the DMK’s plans, and told them to protect their women.

DMK organisation secretary RS Bharathi then lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, saying the scheme has been implemented since 1967 under different names. He also clarified that financial assistance is given when a member of the couple, not necessarily the man, is from the SC or ST community.