The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A Chennai court has convicted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H. Raja in two separate criminal defamation cases, sentencing him to six months’ imprisonment in each case for his derogatory remarks against social reformer E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi.
Raja, a former BJP MLA, made the comments in 2018 on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). He insinuated that Kanimozhi was an “illegitimate” child of Karunanidhi, and also called for the removal of Periyar’s statues from across Tamil Nadu.
The court found Raja’s comments to be “highly provocative” and “irresponsible,” stating that they would “invite trouble and provoke violence”. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Raja.
“Remarks made by the accused are highly provocative in nature and it is needless to state that such irresponsible comments would invite trouble and provoke violence and thereby cause disturbance to the public peace and tranquillity since several followers and political party leaders are following the ideologies of this political leader,” the court order mentioned, The Print reported.
Although the special court for trial of cases against MLAs/MPs sentenced Raja to six months’ imprisonment, it suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal the conviction.
Raja had previously approached the Madras high court twice to quash the cases against him, but his pleas were dismissed.
He then approached the Supreme Court, which also dismissed his plea, remarking that politicians should be more careful about their public utterances.