Temple – Dargah row: Madras HC dismisses BJP leader’s plea to quash police summons for inquiry

Refusing to entertain a petition filed by BJP leader H Raja, seeking to quash the police summons for an inquiry over his ‘incendiary’ speech, the Madras High Court on Monday directed him to appear before the Madurai Police and cooperate with the inquiry.

Dismissing the petition at the admission stage itself, Justice P Velmurugan observed that when summoned by the police under section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha (BNS), a person has no authority to challenge it.  As such, the petitioner should appear before the Investigating Officer, the Police Inspector of Subramaniapuram, Madurai, and extend full cooperation in the inquiry, the Judge said.

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Though the quash petition was filed before the Madurai Bench of the High Court, it was transferred to the Principal Seat in Chennai and came up before Justice Velmurugan, holding the portfolio of cases against sitting as well as former MLAs and MPs.

The case pertains to Raja’s speech at a demonstration organised by the Hindu Munnani, an RSS affiliate, on protecting the Thiruparankundram hillock, housing the famed temple of Lord Murugan, on one side and the Sikandar Dargah atop the hillock. The Thiruparankundram temple is among the six sacred abodes of Murugan, and the Dargah too is worshipped by all, cutting across different faiths. At the demonstration on February 4 in Madurai this year, Raja had alleged that the Dargah was an encroachment on the sacred hillock. Though animal sacrifice was usual at the Dargah in gratitude for fulfillment of a prayer, the Sangh Parivar had claimed that former DMK MP, MM Abdulla, had held a biriyani feast at the hillock, which he had denied.

Following Raja’s inflammatory speech, the Subramaniapuram police had registered an FIR invoking various sections of the BNS including sections 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riots), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace). Subsequently, the police had issued the summons to Raja to appear for the inquiry, against which he had moved the High Court, contending that the Investigating officer had exceeded his authority and assumed the role of a Judicial Magistrate. The notice by the police also imposed certain conditions on Raja to comply with, including not to commit further offences in the future.

Only yesterday, the Hindu Munnani organised a massive conference on Lord Murugan at Madurai in which Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Jana  Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan also participated.