Madras HC quashes FIR against YouTuber Maridhas

The Madras high court on Tuesday quashed an FIR registered by the Madurai Police against a YouTuber, who was arrested on December 9 after he posted a ‘controversial’ tweet over the Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crash, which took place near Coonoor in the state's Nilgiris district the day before. Justice GR Swaminathan of the high court's Madurai bench quashed the FIR noting that the offences mentioned in it were not made in out in the tweet. The city police had booked the YouTuber, Maridhas, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including those related to ‘promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence.’

The Madurai city cybercrime Police filed an FIR against him under Sections 124 (A) (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. He was also booked for under sections 505 (ii) (publishing a statement with intent to cause fear among the public) of the Indian Penal Code.Maridhas, from his twitter handle @MaridhasAnswers, had tweeted in Tamil that 'Tamil Nadu is becoming another Kashmir under the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).' Though he subsequently deleted the tweet, a DMK functionary lodged a complaint against him, resulting in his arrest.BJP leaders, including state president K Annamalaihad, had opposed his arrest on December 11. Annamalaidhad had said his arrest has “seriously violated the freedom of expression available to all guaranteed by law.