A day after the death of former chief minister J.Jayalalithaa, a 39-year-old P.Selvendiran, apparently a DMK supporter, was arrested by the Ariyalur police and sent to judicial custody for a Facebook post disapproving Jayalalithaa and her party cadres. Selvendiran was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), 294 (b) (singing, reciting or uttering any obscene song) besides  criminal intimidation read with section 67 of the Information Technology Act after a police complaint was lodged by an AIADMK functionary P.Shankar. 

According to a police officer, Selvendiran in his post described AIADMK supporters as slaves and reminded them that the leader who kept them enslaved is no longer alive. Further, he exhorted the AIADMK cadres to wake up at least now and work for the welfare of the people who voted the party to power.

In Tamil Nadu, one need not be surprised if more such arrests are reported in the coming days and in the near future as well.

Hardly a month before Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation, the Supreme Court had come down against her government for persisting in slapping criminal defamation cases against her critics and political opponents. In its own deposition before the court the AIADMK government informed that a total of 213 defamation cases have been filed between 2011 to 2016 against its critics. Prior to that on July 28, the court pulled up the government stating that the  penal provision on defamation (Section 499 and 500 of the IPC) should not be used to throttle dissent. The bench also observed that just because anyone calls a government corrupt or lacking in administrative ability cannot be slapped with defamation case and there has to be tolerance to criticism.

The sedition charge against folk singer and pro--prohibition activist Kovan last year for his protest songs slamming Jayalalithaa government's liquor policy is now history...