The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the police to file an FIR against Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi by April 23 for his recent vulgar comments targeting Hinduism. The court added that if the order is followed, then a suo motu case will be registered. The matter relatres to a vulgar joke by the minister targeting Saivites, Vaishnavites and women.
Hearing a PIL filed seeking police action against Ponmudi, the high court also expressed concern over the police’s failure to take action on a complaint against him. “When government takes others’ hate speeches seriously, the same must be done when a minister himself makes it,” Justice Venkatesh said.
However, the court also said that that only one FIR should be filed in the matter, not multiple FIRs. The judge said, “There is no escape from this. Don’t register multiple FIRs. Just register one FIR and proceed with it. Law is for everybody.”
The PIL was filed by B Jagannath, a practising advocate and Vaishnavite Hindu, who accused Ponmudi of making a hate speech targeting core Hindu beliefs and using a lewd analogy involving prostitutes to mock the religious symbols of Saivism and Vaishnavism.
Notably, Ponmudi had equated sex positions with Hindu Tilak designs while narrating a joke of a man vising a sex worker. In the joke, the prostitute asked the man whether he is a Shaivite or Vaishnavite. When the man didn’t understand the question, the woman asked whether he wears a pattai (horizontal tilak associated with Shaivism) or a naamam (vertical tilak associated with Vaishnavism). She then further explains that if its Shaivite, the position is “lying down,” and if Vaishnavite, the position is “standing up.”
DMK has already removed him from his party post of Deputy General Secretary, but Ponmudi remains a minister. He has apologised for the comments.
