Chennai: Madras high court has exempted senior BJP leader H Raja from appearing in person before a trial court every month, considering his health condition.Justicee Jagadish Chandra allowed Raja’s counsel to represent him in the trial court by easing an earlier direction that mandated his personal appearance on the first working day of every month.The condition was imposed when the high court stayed the sentence awarded to Raja by a special court dealing with cases against MPs and MLAs in Chennai.In Dec 2024, the special court sentenced Raja to six months’ imprisonment in each of two cases arising from a 2018 social media post. The cases stemmed from a tweet in which Raja allegedly made remarks about breaking a statue of social reformer E V Ramasamy and posted derogatory comments against DMK leader and MP Kanimozhi.Multiple complaints were registered against him in different police stations following the tweet. Raja challenged the conviction before the high court, which stayed the sentence but directed him to appear before the trial court regularly as a condition for the suspension of sentence.Citing health issues, Raja recently moved the high court seeking relaxation of the personal appearance condition. Accepting the plea, Justice Jagadish Chandra permitted his advocate to represent him before the trial court instead of requiring his monthly personal appearance.
