Tamil Nadu BJP Secretary S. G. Suryah was arrested by a special team of police from Madurai on Saturday for allegedly posting remarks on social media that aimed at creating social tensions. Suryah was booked under several sections of the IPC, including wanton vilification upon particular group, insulting someone intentionally to provoke, and inciting community of persons to commit any offence against any other community, as well as under provisions of the Information Technology Act. The arrest was made after CPI(M) Madurai Urban Unit District Secretary, M. Ganesan filed a complaint against Suryah for allegedly vilifying Madurai Lok Sabha CPI(M) MP, Su. Venkatesan in a social media post.
According to Ganesan’s complaint, Suryah had posted a false message regarding Viswanathan, a Councillor of Ward 12 of Madurai Pennadam Town Panchayat. Suryah claimed Viswanathan had forced a cleanliness worker from the Scheduled Caste community to clean water mixed with human faeces. The worker had later died due to an allergy, and the CPI(M) MP, Venkatesan, was maintaining a stoic silence. Ganesan claimed that Madurai district did not have a town Panchayat named Pennadam, and there was no councillor named Viswanathan. Furthermore, no such incident involving the death of a cleanliness worker had been reported.
The arrest of Suryah has sparked strong condemnation from top BJP leaders, including Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and party State Chief K. Annamalai. Suryah was produced before a Judicial Magistrate Court in Madurai and remanded in judicial custody.
