The Madras High Court has stayed all further proceedings pursuant to registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Viduthalai Sigappi, alias P. Vigneshwaran, 30, an assistant to acclaimed film director Pa. Ranjith, for his poem titled Malakuzhi Maranam in which he had depicted Lord Rama, Lord Lakshman and Lord Hanuman to be involved in manual scavenging.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh granted the interim stay after senior counsel T. Lajapathi Roy contended that the intention behind the recitation of the poem, at a literary event, was not to insult any religion but to underline the seriousness of deaths caused due to manual scavenging. The counsel claimed that a creator could not be subjected to prosecution for artistic freedom.
In his petition, the assistant director said that caste based discrimination was still prevalent in the country despite Article 17 of the Constitution having declared untouchability to have been abolished. Similarly manual scavenging and consequent deaths, too, were continuing to be reported despite the enactment of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
