In a snub to the state police, a lower court in Trichy set free popular YouTuber and Tamil nationalist ‘Naam Tamilar Katchi’ senior functionary ‘Sattai’ Duraimurugan, arrested on the charge of making derogatory remarks against the DMK government of MK Stalin and his father and late party patriarch M Karunanidhi.

Interestingly, within 11 hours of his arrest on Thursday by the Cyber Crime Police, First Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Swaminathan declined to grant police custody and allowed Duraimurugan to walk free. Arrested in the southern Tenkasi district, where he had gone for the temple festival in his native village near Courtallam, he was brought to Trichy and was questioned for three hours. Later in the night he was produced before the Magistrate seeking judicial custody.

Duraimurugan’s arrest followed a complaint by AK Arun, DMK IT wing district coordinator over the YouTuber’s campaign speech in the Vikravandi byelection. The NTK has fielded its candidate in the bypoll. Police have invoked the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, besides other sections of the BNS.

During the hearing, the defence argued that the song sung by the YouTuber, a parody lampooning Karunanidhi’s arrest at the 1953 Kallakudi rail roko agitation, for which he is valourised, was originally composed by the AIADMK and is still in vogue. It was also submitted the case was foisted on him and there was no ground to invoke the SC/ST Act. On hearing the arguments advanced by both the sides, the judge refused to grant judicial custody, observing that there is no need to arrest Duraimurugan and set him free. Later, accompanied by jubilant supporters, Duraimurugan left the court premises.

The arrest of the YouTuber had invited condemnation from the opposition with AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and BJP state president K Annamalai besides NTK Chief Coordinator Seeman charging the government with targeting those critical of the government for its failure on the law and order front.

A vocal critic of the DMK and the Dravidian ideology, Duraimurugan was earlier arrested in 2021 by the Thanjavur police on the charge of spreading derogatory remarks, linking Karunanidhi with actor Khushbu, when she was with the DMK. The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court granted him bail in that case on the condition that he should refrain from making defamatory remarks on anyone in the future. But, he was arrested shortly for his speech against Chief Minister MK Stalin at a protest in Kanniyakumari. In this case also, he had secured bail.

His YouTube channel, ‘Sattai’ (meaning whip) which is highly popular and has exposed the free flow of illicit liquor in Kallakurichi months before the hooch tragedy struck the state, claiming 66 lives. It was also referred to by the Judges hearing a plea for the CBI probe into the tragedy.