The Supreme Court stayed criminal proceedings against Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party State president K. Annamalai on Monday in a complaint accusing him of hate speech for his remark that a Christian missionary NGO was behind a petition filed in the top court seeking a ban on the bursting of firecrackers during Deepavali.
A Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna passed the interim order while issuing formal notice to Salem-based activist V. Piyush who had filed the complaint against Mr. Annamalai, represented by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and M.A. Chinnasamy.
The BJP leader had approached the top court after the Madras High Court refused to quash the criminal trial pending against him before a Magistrate court in Salem.
