1. Tamil Cinema’s #MeToo Movement: Vairamuthu, Radha Ravi Named
Journalist Sandhya Menon shared a message in which a woman alleged that lyricist Vairamuthu hugged and kissed her against her consent. The alleged victim, who chose to remain anonymous, also alleged that she wasn’t his first victim.
As many as four separate allegations of sexual abuse from different women have surfaced on social media against lyricist Vairamuthu. Sandhya Menon shared the first such instance on 7 October. Playback singer Chinmayi was the first from the Tamil film fraternity to take up the issue. Her tweets were supported and retweeted by actors Samantha and Varalakshmi.
Chinmayi herself has accused Vairmuthu of sexually abusing her.
(Read More on The Quint)
2. Journalist Nakkheeran Gopal Held By Police for Article on Governor
Veteran journalist Nakkheeran Gopal was arrested by the Chennai police for allegedly defaming Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his articles in the Nirmala Devi case.
Gopal was reportedly on his way to Pune, when he was picked up by the police at Chennai Airport. The court has, however, refused to remand Gopal to judicial custody, ANI reported. The cover story of the Nakkheeran magazine this edition showed the pictures of Nirmala Devi, an accused in the 'sex for cash' scam and the governor.
The cover said that Devi had told the CB CID, which is investigating the case, that she had met the governor four times. The story had questioned why the governor has not been made part of the inquiry. According to preliminary reports, the arrest was allegedly made on a complaint given by Governor Banwarilal Purohit accusing Gopal of defaming him in his reportage.
(Read More on The Quint)
3. Economic Offenders Scared of Modi Govt: Sitharaman
BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that economic offenders were leaving the country because they were scared of the stringent enforcement of laws by the Narendra Modi-led government.
“Why are they leaving the country? Because they know we have been taking severe action...Even if they leave, we will confiscate their assets and bring them back,” she said.
Sitharaman was addressing the first conference of the State BJP’s traders’ wing. The event, organised at the YMCA Grounds, Royapettah, was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan and former Rajya Sabha member La Ganesan.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Chennai-Salem Greenfield Project: TN Govt Slammed for Apathy
The TN government was slammed by the Madras High Court for its alleged lethargic approach to handling the pleas against acquisition of land for the eight-way Chennai-Salem greenfield corridor project.“The government is insensitive towards the issue. From the beginning we were insisting on adopting proper approach,” a division bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and V Bhavani Subbaroyan said on Monday.
The inability of the government advocate to answer the court’s queries with regard to illegal felling of 109 trees near the project site and the status of the anticipatory bail applications moved by the accused, was the cause for the outburst of the bench.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
5. ‘Produce Papers to Prove Idol Worship’
The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed businesspersons Ranvir R Shah and Kiran Velagapudi (Kiran Rao) to submit by Thursday all documents in their possession to prove the legal ownership of several idols and other artefacts recovered from their premises by the Idol Wing-Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recently.
A Division Bench of Justices R Mahadevan and PD Audikesavalu issued the direction while hearing anticipatory bail petitions filed by the businesspersons. The petitioners said they were art enthusiasts who were in possession of the idols on the strength of the antiquities registration certificates issued by the Department of Archaeology.
(Source: The Hindu)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)