Chennai publisher held for alleged comments on judiciary over Manipur violence

Chennai-based publisher, political commentator and blogger Badri Seshadri was arrested on Saturday, July 29, for his alleged comments on judiciary while discussing Manipur violence in an interview to a Youtube channel.

The arrest was made early this morning by the Perambalur district police following a complaint from a lawyer Kaviarasu, a resident of Kunnam, who claimed that he was disturbed by Seshadri’s views on the judiciary, during an interview to a Youtube channel on July 22.

Seshadri comments were critical of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and the Supreme Court's actions over the ongoing violence in the north eastern state.

The police booked cases under IPC sections 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 A (1) (a) (promote enmity between groups through words), 505 (1) (b) (causing fear and alarm in public) against him.

Condemning the arrest, BJP state chief K. Annamalai accused the ruling DMK of resorting to arrests as it was unable to handle opinions expressed by the common man.

Taking to twitter Annamalai sought to know “is it the responsibility of the police to carry out the vindictive agenda of the ruling DMK?” 

With PTI inputs