Justice N Kirubakran of the Madras High Court made some intense observations about the “extremists” and “fundamentalist” existing in our nation, while hearing out the bail plea of the accused member of the banned organization “Tamil Nadu Liberation Army”. He even stated that these extremists are acting against the very integrity of our nation and community welfare.
The accused was alleged to be involved in various acts of violence disturbing the harmony and tranquillity of the society in the name of language, culture and separate country. In this process, he along with his other members of the banned organization have caused immense destruction of public and private properties apart from jeopardizing the lives of people. The Court examined the pamphlets which were allegedly prepared by the accused calling for “Liberation of Tamil Nadu as well as “Tamil Language”.
The Court denied the bail petition of the accused observing that the appellant was charged with the offences of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Explosive Act and IPC in the present case and it will not be appropriate to grant bail to the accused for the investigation purposes and especially when the trial has almost come to an end. Thus, the appeal was dismissed. The Division Bench of Justices N Kirubakran and R Hemalatha gave the following opinions with respect to the case.
Justice Kirubakran noted that, “This kind of fringe elements are stated to be more active in Tamil Nadu and wearing the masks of NGO, Human Right organization and political groups are creating unrest in Tamil Nadu by the means of continuous propaganda through media especially social media which is prompting people to protest, creating fear psychosis and spreading hatred among the masses. However, one should note that these NGOs and Human Rights organizations are in reality doing yeomen services for the people.”
He also emphasised further that, “when these elements take “Tamil Culture”, “Tamil Race” and “Tamil language” as weapons for their sinister plans, the governments should be careful enough to see that no action of the government would pave for or strengthen the propaganda made by these elements especially with regard to emotive language issues. As the political parties are waiting to make use of such positions to stimulate linguistic chauvinism to produce political dividends.”
Justice Kirubakran also gave his meaning of anti-national movements and opined that lately there are many “anti-national” activities are emerging in the nation and they are being contained by the government with help of people. While referring the term “anti-national movements”, he clarified his definition of this phrase and stated, “Violence, Destruction, Militancy, Assassinations, chaos, anarchy, mutiny, riots, creation of conflicts based on caste, religion, race and language , secession, separatism are synonymous with anti-national and separatist movements which are pretty much active in India to disintegrate our country by soft violent militancy.”
He further blatantly compared the “anti-national movements” with other violent movements that have occurred in past such as “Khalistan movement”, “National Liberation Front of Tripura”, “Nagaland Liberation”, United Liberation Front of Assam, (ULFA)” and “People Liberation Army of Manipur”. He also gave an upfront statement averring that our country is facing more danger in the hands of these distorted elements within the nation than our enemy countries. Thus, the government should be cautious and vigilant about these elements.
Justice Kirubakran even made some remarks regarding “some organization” pointing out the problem of such organizations that “the people fighting for the rights of people through these organizations themselves don’t have faith in the system. They often raise their voice for rights but forget about their corresponding duties. They even support separatists, secessionists forces and those who celebrate the enemy countries and criminals in the name of violation of human rights.”
These groups don’t realise the essence of their voices and often make anti-national comments on others in the name of their fundamental right of “Freedom of Expression” and “Right to Expression”.
The Judge further cites an example explaining that “who are the lovers of neighbouring nation” in a very fascinating way. He said, “the recent Galwan Valley conflict between India and neighbouring country exposed people who are the lovers of neighbouring nation, as they openly supported the enemy country. The shocking fact is that many such elements cropped up in the media to spread distorted news and amplify minor incidents.”
The Judge further stated that “these elements were not stating the straight forward news but disseminating their views in the name of News in order to mislead people by instilling their perspectives by the medium of such news. These extremists and fundamentalists are threat to national integrity of the nation and have to be nipped in the bud as the propaganda and their acts can go against the very integrity of our nation and public welfare.”
Justice Kirubakran also gave an insight about the diversity of India and stated, “Our country is a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual and multireligious nation. Peace and Harmony have to be maintained. For that the government needs to make efforts and make every citizen feel that his language, culture, religion, race are preserved and protected and won’t be interfered or suppressed by any action of the government. Even an apprehension should not be shaped in the minds of people regarding the same or else it can be counterproductive.”
Justice Kirubakran listed some points for the government too, hinting that what is expected out of the government. The opinions of Justice Kirubakran are noted down as the suggestions for the government-
- not to originate an impression in minds of people that their language is being discriminated or repressed in any manner
- not to create any apprehension among the people that only a few chosen languages are given prominence and recognition especially when there are 22 languages recognized and enlisted in the VII Schedule of the Constitution of India which must all be treated equally and protected so that all languages are well established and conserved in India
- to deal with communal elements, religious, extremist forces very firmly
The suggestions enumerated by Justice Kirubakran were only in the interest of safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country. He mentioned that there should be no room for linguistic homophobes who try and create unrest in the name of languages. He also suggested that the government should effectively deal with anti-national forces with the help of iron hand as they are hell bent on creating fear and turbulence in the society by using our diversities to divide the nation. The government should deal with these delicate issues with precaution in order to protect and preserve the largest democracy of the world and sustain the “Unity in Diversity”.
Justice R Hemalatha while approving that the appellant should not be granted bail, who was with Justice Kirubakran on the Division Bench stated that she was not subscribing or accepting the views of Justice Kirubakran. She noted that “learning languages can be completely a matter of one’s choice and I don’t subscribe to the views expressed by Hon’ble Justice Mr. Kirubakran with regard to the Tamil Organizations, languages and the consequent suggestions given to the government. They are not pertinent to the present petition.”
Thus, the bail application of the accused was rejected and was dismissed.
