Tamil Nadu: Annamalai Condemns Arrest Of Publisher And Political Analyst Badri Seshadri

Badri Seshadri, a renowned political analyst and publisher, has been arrested by the Tamil Nadu police early this morning (29 July).

He has allegedly been arrested for remarks about Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud regarding the violence in Manipur in an interview with a YouTube channel.

In a video clip being shared on social media, he can be heard saying, “Yesterday, the Supreme Court like a big…. I don’t know what word to say. ‘If you can’t do it (contain the violence), we will get down and do it.’

"Can you (judiciary) enter into the realm of governance? What fault did you find in what is being done [by the government] there [to restore normalcy]? Two groups are fighting. It is a hilly terrain. A complex land. In that, a few murders will happen. Why did they fight? Could we have prevented the reason for the two groups fighting? It can’t be done easily.”

Sections 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) have been mentioned in the FIR which was filed based on a complaint given by an advocate Kaviyarasu at the Kunnam police station in Perambalur.

Condemning the arrest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai said that the government was resorting to arrests in order to combat the opinions put out by common pople. Further, he asked if arresting people whom the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government wanted to take revenge against was the only job of the Tamil Nadu police.