The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed a case booked by the Greater Chennai Police against former AIADMK Minister ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan, for having used a dummy coffin containing former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s figurine draped with the national flag, during the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency bypoll campaign in April 2017.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh quashed all proceedings pending against the former Minister as well as the other accused persons, before a special court for cases against Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Assembly, after holding that no offence as pressed by the prosecution had been made out against the quash petitioners.
The judge held that the petitioners’ act in having chosen to perform a dramatic re-enactment of the State funeral accorded to the former Chief Minister could at best be seen as an appeal to the sentiments or emotions of the voters and could not be stretched to the extent of terming it to be an undue influence exerted on them.
