Chennai, Feb 9: The Madras High Court dealt a blow to Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Thursday by dismissing his petition to quash a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against him. Justice N Anand Venkatesh ruled against Annamalai’s plea, directing the trial court to proceed with the case independently, without considering his arguments for dismissal.
The FIR stemmed from a complaint filed by Salem-based environmental activist V. Piyush, who accused Annamalai of making inflammatory remarks against a Christian missionary and inciting communal disharmony between Christians and Hindus during a social media interview. Piyush alleged that Annamalai falsely claimed that a Christian missionary had filed a case against Hindus for bursting crackers during the Diwali festival, thereby promoting enmity between religious groups.
The case, registered in 2023 with the sanction of the State, prompted Annamalai to approach the Madras High Court seeking to quash the charges against him. In his defense, Annamalai argued that his statements were misconstrued by the complainant and that there was no evidence of any public disturbance or objection from the Christian community in response to his remarks.
Annamalai contended that the allegations leveled against him under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were baseless and made with the intention to malign his reputation.
Despite Annamalai’s assertions, the judge was unconvinced and refused to grant his plea for the FIR to be quashed.