SC stays trial court’s proceedings against TN BJP chief

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the criminal proceedings against Tamil Nadu BJP president and former IPS officer K Annamalai for an alleged hate speech against Christians in an interview to a YouTube channel in October 2022, in connection with firecrackers ban.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, upon going through the transcript of the statements made in the interview, said, prime facie, there is no hate speech.  

The bench said, “No case is made out,” while ordering a stay on further proceedings before the trial court.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocate J Sai Deepak, appearing for Annamalai, referred to the court the transcript of the interview contend that it is not a case of hate speech.

The court issued a notice to the complainant, Piyush Manush, who has accused Annamalai of making a hate speech against Christians in the interview on October 22, 2022 with regard to the bursting of crackers, two days before Diwali.

The court issued notice and fixed the matter in the week commencing April 29, 2024.

Annamalai filed the plea in the apex court against a Madras High Court order, which declined to quash the summons issued to him in the case.

The high court, earlier this month, had observed that the psychological impact on an individual or a group must also be considered under the definition of hate speech. The summons was issued by the trial court based on a complaint filed by a man named V Piyush.

The high court had said that prima facie, the statements disclosed a divisive intent on the petitioner’s part to portray the NGO as acting against Hindu culture.

The complainant claimed the statement was aimed at creating enmity against Christians.

“Prima facie, the statements disclose a divisive intent on the part of the petitioner to project as if a Christian NGO is acting against Hindu culture. The intent can be gathered from the fact that the statements were made two days before the Diwali festival," the High Court had said, while refusing to quash the proceedings pending before a Salem court.