Chennai: A city magistrate court has summoned former DMK minister K Ponmudi in connection with a private complaint moved by BJP West Mambalam councillor Uma Anand, for his reported derogatory remarks against Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and women made at a public meeting.Though the Madras high court closed a suo motu plea initiated in connection with the incident, the magistrate issued summons, observing that a prima facie case had been made out against Ponmudi. The former minister was directed to appear before the court on March 24.“A careful perusal of records would reveal that the accused made the speech available on social media. The complainant lodged a complaint before the police. The police filed a closure report. The complainant filed a private complaint,” III Metropolitan Magistrate N Vasudevan said.He added that a prima facie case was made out against the accused for offences under Section 196(i)(a) (attempting to promote disharmony between different religious, racial, language, or regional groups/castes using spoken/written words, signs, or electronic communication), 299 (malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and 302 (deliberate wounding of religious feelings) of BNS.“This court is inclined to take cognisance of the offences against the accused. Issue summons to accused,” the court said.On Sept 16, 2025, the high court closed a suo motu petition initiated against Ponmudi in connection with the incident. The court, however, observed that a person occupying a high position must refrain from making such remarks in a public speech. The court also granted liberty to over 100 complainants in the case registered across the state to approach the magistrate concerned for any further relief.
