Arjun Sampath’s son, too, in trouble

Chennai: The Madras High Court had ordered Omkar Balaji, the State Youth Wing President of the Indu Makkal Katchi of Arjun Sampath, to appear before the court on November 13 and tender an apology for his controversial speech, in which he said that the tongue of R Gopal, the editor of the Tamil magazine ‘Nakeeran’ would be cut off.

Balaji, who is also the son of Arjun Sampath, had made that remark during a demonstration conducted on October 27 at Coimbatore demanding action against those who spread rumours and filed false complaints against the Isha Yoga Centre of Jaggi Vasudev. Gopal had made the remark earlier in an interview to a YouTube channel.

When Balaji moved the court with a petition seeking anticipatory bail on November 4, the court dismissed the petition and ordered the filing of a fresh petition. On Thursday, the judge took exemption to the remark of the petitioner and ordered him to appear before the court and file an apology affidavit.

The petitioner’s father, Arjun Sampath, the founder of the Indu Makkal Katchi, had organized a protest meeting on Sunday in Chennai to demand a Prevention of Atrocities Act to protect the Brahmin community for attacks, on the lines of the law that provides protection to people belonging to the SC and ST communities.

South Indian actress Kasthuri, who spoke ill of Telugu people and government employees belonging to the marginalized communities at the meeting and in subsequent interviews on the controversy, apologized for the remarks after a few cases were filed and protests mounted against her.