Perumal Murugan, the well known Tamil author who quit writing in disgust following threats to his life by some caste groups in Tamil Nadu, got a major relief with the judiciary coming to his help. The Madras High Court in a landmark judgment on Tuesday ruled that the conditions set by the district administration of Namakkal in Tamil Nadu vis-à-vis his book Madhorubhagan was not binding on Perumal Murugan, its author.
The year 2015 saw Perumal Murugan coming under fire from some of the caste groups in Thiruchengode following the publication of his latest novel Madhorubhagan which had some references to the local temple and a caste group. The district administration convened a meeting on January 12, 2015 and made Murugan to sign an agreement in which he tendered an unconditional apology, offered to delete all controversial portions from the book and withdraw all unsold copies from the market.
Interestingly, Murugan's lawyer had said that the author was forced by the district administration to sign the deal much against his wish. A group of people claiming to be residents of Thiruchengode approached the Madras High Court with a plea to initiate criminal charges against Murugan.
While all major political parties in Tamil Nadu looked the other way, the CPI(M) sponsored Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, expressing solidarity with the writer, challenged the January 12 decision of the district administration .
The First Bench of the Madras High Court consisting of chief justice SK Kaul and justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana ruled on Tuesday that the settlement arrived at the meeting convened by the district officials were not binding on the author. It also dismissed the plea moved by the residents, and consequently quashed an FIR filed against Murugan.
The court directed the State government to circulate a series of guidelines framed by the court to handle such situations among the State police and to form an expert committee to handle such issues.