He Had Uttered Such Words As Mentioned In Manu Smriti: Madras HC Quashes Complaint Against VCK President Accused Of Hate Speech Against Hindu Women
The Madras High Court quashed a Complaint against Thol. Thirumavalavan, President of a political party namely Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Member of Parliament (MP) in Lok Sabha who was accused of hate speech against Hindu women.
The Court was dealing with a Criminal Original Petition filed by the accused MP, praying to call for the records pertaining to the Private Complaint pending before the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate, for the alleged offences under Sections 120-B, 295-A, 298, 500, and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) and quash the same as illegal.
A Single Bench of Justice P. Velmurugan said, “… this Court finds that the complainant has not stated that after hearing the speech of the petitioner, they have referred to the book "Manu Smriti" and no-where the contents of the book "Manu Smriti" could be culled out from his speech. He has spoke only in general parlance. Hence, in the absence of the same, on a reading of the affidavit filed along with this petition, it could be inferred that he had uttered such words as mentioned in the said book.”
Advocate S. Deepika appeared on behalf of the Petitioner while none appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
Brief Facts -
A Complaint was filed by the Respondent (Complainant) in 2020 against the Petitioner (Accused) stating that when he was in his village, he saw a YouTube Channel namely ‘Periyar’ wherein he saw a video footage of the accused wherein he allegedly uttered, lowered, and made false story about the Hindu women and being a member of Hindu family, his mind was throbbing with shame. His main allegation was that the accused lowered the image of women in public and humiliated the feelings of Hindu women with the help of another accused. Hence, he filed a Private Complaint before the Judicial Magistrate.
The Petitioner had participated in an international conference, which was conducted through video-conference during amidst COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Union Government. In the said conference, he delivered his speech in the topic of "Periyar & Indian Politics". In his speech, he spoke about as to how the women are mentioned in the "Manu Smriti" and thereafter, the said video was podcasted by the co-accused through his YouTube channel, namely "Periyar TV". It was contended that the Petitioner did not utter any word lowering the modesty of any woman other than what was written in "Manu Smriti". Hence, he approached the High Court, seeking quashing of Complaint against him.
The High Court in view of the above facts, observed, “On a reading of the complaint, it is seen that the main allegation made by the respondent-de.facto complainant is that the speech rendered by the petitioner was telecast in the you-tube channel, which amounts to be a hate-speech against the Indian women, more particularly, the Hindu women.”
The Court added that on a reading of the entire materials available on record, it is conspicuously clear that the Petitioner had referred about the book "Manu Smriti", he has spoken about the same and therefore, the allegations made by the Petitioner do not attract the offence that would be made out under IPC and IT Act.
“In these circumstances, this Court finds that the petitioner has not committed any of the offence(s) alleged against him, as referred to in the private complaint. … What has been stated in the book "Manu Smriti" had been only made as his speech and in the facts and circumstances of this case, this Court does not find that any of the offences as alleged by the de-facto complainant is made out, since prima-facie, nothing is available on record to prosecute the complaint filed by the respondent herein”, it further remarked.
The Court, therefore, concluded that there is no intention for the Petitioner to commit any hate speech and is not affecting anyone and his speech is only in general parlance.
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the Petition and quashed the Complaint against the accused.
Cause Title- Thol.Thirumavalavan v. Dr.V.Vedha @ Dhamodharan
