A court on Tuesday granted bail to publisher Badri Seshadri who was arrested on July 29 for his alleged provocative remarks against Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
It rejected a plea by Perambalur District Police to take him under its custody.
Seshadri was produced before the judicial magistrate, Kunnam which rejected a demand by the police to take the publisher under its custody and granted him bail.
Seshadri, 58, is the founder of Kizhakku Pathipagam, one of the leading publishing houses in Tamil Nadu.
He is regular on Tamil television and YouTube channels.
The DMK government led by Stalin government came under attack after the arrest with regard to its commitment to the freedom of expression.
According to the FIR, Seshadri, a supporter of the BJP, has been booked under 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) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In an interview to Aadhan Tamil, a popular YouTube channel, Seshadri had criticized the Supreme Courts observation that it would be forced to intervene in the Manipur issue if the Centre didnt act immediately.
Taking objection to the Supreme Court intervening in a sensitive issue, Seshadri said in the interview, that the Manipur High Courts decision to grant Scheduled Tribe status to the Meitei community led to the violence in the north-eastern state.
Let's give a gun to Chandrachud and send him there. Let's see if he can restore peace, he reportedly said.
