Editor Held On Raj Bhavan's Complaint, Freed By Court

GovernorsaideaccusesTamilmagazineofpublishingdefamatoryreports

- S. Vijay Kumar

R.R. Gopal, Editor of Tamil magazine Nakkheeran, was on Tuesday arrested in Chennai under Section 124 of the IPC, a provision that deals with “assaulting President/Governor with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power” on a complaint from the Raj Bhavan, but was set free by a magistrate in the evening.

The complaint was submitted by T. Sengottaiyan, Deputy Secretary to the Governor, to the Commissioner of Police on October 6, accusing Nakkheeran of publishing defamatory reports. These reports insinuated that the Governor and senior Raj Bhavan officials had links with Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor, who was arrested in April on charges of attempted tracking of college girls. Mr. Sengottaiyan sought invocation of Section 124 of the IPC against Mr. Gopal, 31 employees and three distributors of the magazine, saying publishing three articles — two in April and one in September — amounted to “clearly an expression of intention of inducing or compelling His Excellency the Governor of Tamil Nadu to refrain from exercising his lawful powers as Governor.”