No cases under Goondas Act, NSA against Kovan till Nov 17: TN

The Tamil Nadu government today told the Madras High Court that no cases under Goodas Act or National Security Act would be taken till November 17 against Kovan, the propagandist singer of an ultra left outfit who was arrested last week for alleged sedition.
The submission was made before Justice M M Sundresh by A L Somayaji, Advocate General of Tamil Nadu government, on a petition by 54-year-old Kovan's son Saruvagan seeking an explanation from police why his father was arrested.
Saruvagan submitted that his father belonged to an organisation called Makkal Kalai Ilakiya Kazhagam and its motto was "art and literature for the people".

He also submitted that his was father, without commercialising his talent, wrote and sang several songs on various social issues and is performing his folk singing all over the state for more than 30 years.
Supporting the people against liquor shops which has been causing untold damage over the society, his father composed the songs against liquor shops, he said.
He alleged that police had foisted a false case against his father when there is no complaint from the public.

For imposing charge of sedition under 124 A IPC, there must be some prima facie occurrences of bringing contempt of hatred against state and there was not even a single occurrence mentioned in the FIR filed against Kovan, he said.

Kovan was arrested at Tiruchirapalli on October 30 for alleged sedition, uploading defamatory electronic content against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and disturbing public peace.
The alleged defamatory content in the form of videos were uploaded in some Tamil websites and it also went viral in messaging mediums like WhatsApp.
The content, though centred over the liquor vending policy of Tamil Nadu government, had direct references to Jayalalithaa in a bad light, police said.