How did you conclude there was no prima facie case against Ponmudy, Madras High Court asks T.N. Police

The Madras High Court on Friday (August 22, 2025) questioned the Tamil Nadu police as to how it had arrived at a conclusion that a prima facie case had not been made out warranting the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against former Minister K. Ponmudy for his derogatory speech against Saivites, Vaishnavites, and women.

Justice N. Sathish Kumar raised the query during the hearing of a suo motu writ petition taken by the High Court at the instance of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, after a video clip of the then Minister’s April 8, 2025 speech at a Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) event went viral on social media, following which he lost his ministership.

Representing the police in the suo motu proceedings, Advocate General P.S. Raman told the court that they had received 115 complaints from across the State with respect to the speech, and some of those complaints were filed even before the court took up the present suo motu writ petition on April 23, 2025.

He said the police did not find a prima facie case having been made out necessitating the registration of a FIR against the former Minister and hence, all those complaints were closed and necessary intimation was sent to the complainants either through registered post or by serving upon the closure orders on them in person.

Submitting proof for having intimated the closure reports to every individual complainant, the A-G said, the complainants would now have to work out their remedy by filing a private complaint before the jurisdictional judicial magistrates as prescribed under Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

However, when the judge wanted to know on what basis the police arrived at a conclusion that a prima facie case had not been made out against the former Minister, the A-G said, it was because Mr. Ponmudy had only recounted a speech that was delivered by a social reformer in 1972 and not spoken on his own.

Intervening at this point, senior ocunsel G. Karthikeyan, representing one of the complainants, quipped: “This is the kind of social reformation that they have been doing.” Later, the judge asked the A-G to produce before the court the entire speech delivered by Mr. Ponmudy as well as the 1972 reference that he had made.

The judge also recorded the submission of Mr. Karthikeyan as well as advocate G.S. Mani, representing yet another complainant, that the police had chosen to close the complaints even without summoning the complainants for a preliminary inquiry though the charge was related to delivery of a hate speech.

The judge directed the High Court Registry to list the suo motu writ petition next on August 28, 2025 for further hearing.