Chennai man arrested for sharing video critical of Stalin, PTR

The police said Pradheep is the admin for a social media page, Voice of Savukku Shankar, that belongs to a Tamil Nadu-based whistle-blower. A senior officer said Pradheep was arrested based on a complaint by A S Kumari, the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Women’s Commission.

The officer said, “The complaint was filed on Tuesday.

Pradheep, who was handling the social media page ‘Voice of Savukku Shankar’, worked for the BJP earlier. After Shankar was released from prison recently, Pradheep started managing his social media pages. Requests were made to delete this post, as it was not only demeaning to women in general but highly derogatory, with sexual undertones. But he refused to delete the post, and kept sharing it again and again. Moreover, he also challenged the police to arrest him.”

The video, posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning, allegedly criticised the state budget announcement promising a monthly allowance to women homemakers from September onwards. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) had on Monday presented the state budget. Fulfilling a promise made in DMK’s 2021 manifesto, Rajan had announced a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for “eligible” women homemakers who would be selected by the government. The video shared by Pradheep featured a clip from an old Tamil movie showing two men choosing “eligible” women. The video was modified to name the two men in it as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and Rajan.

Meanwhile, Shankar said Pradheep’s arrest was a violation of a Supreme Court ruling that arrests should not be made in case of crimes with less than seven years of imprisonment. A suspended employee with the State Vigilance Department, Shankar is a known whistle-blower in Tamil Nadu since the past decade. He was arrested and lodged at Cuddalore jail recently following a Madras High Court order on his defamatory posts on senior judges.

Accusing the police force of acting as “DMK mercenaries,” Shankar said Pradheep’s parents were not informed about his arrest. He also claimed that the police had seized the cell phones belonging to Pradheep and his mother.

To Shankar’s allegation holding PTR responsible for Pradheep’s midnight arrest, the minister dismissed the charge against him as “100 per cent lunacy”.

Rajan said, “I had no idea this handle (Voice of Savukku) existed, so (I) have not seen the video, nor complained.”

Criticised as “mischievous” by many, especially DMK supporters, the video went viral among the party’s critics.

Stating that “democracy turns into autocracy when powers are concentrated within one family”, state BJP president K Annamalai said the DMK government was rattled by the slightest criticism. He added that it had displayed its “dictatorial behaviour” by arresting a person for a social media post.

Annamalai tweeted, “If posting a troll video deserves an arrest, the entire DMK IT wing should be behind bars as it is their full-time profession.”

Stating that “the spineless DMK government is indulging in outright suppression of people’s voices”, BJP leader and National Commission for Women (NCW) member Khushbu Sundar tweeted, “Shocked to note that they can’t handle even memes. Conspicuous signs of a weak govt. If they are arresting because allegedly someone had represented woman badly, what about your own men who keep bad mouthing women everyday? Any plans to arrest them Mr. M K Stalin?”

On Tuesday, Kannada actor-activist Chetan Kumar alias Chetan Ahimsa was arrested by the Bengaluru city police for hurting religious sentiments with his tweet on Hindutva, his second arrest in the last year over his Twitter posts.