Madras HC Issues Notice to Authors, Publisher in ₹1-Cr Periyar Book Suit

The Madras High Court on Friday admitted a civil suit filed by the Periyar Self Respect Propaganda Institution seeking ₹1 crore in damages against the authors and publisher of a book on delimitation, over allegations that they wrongly attributed certain statements to Periyar in their publication.

Justice Govindarajan Thilakavadi, while admitting the plea, directed the authors of the book, Gautam R Desiraju and Deekhit Bhattacharya, as well as the Noida-based publisher BluOne Ink Pvt Ltd, to file their responses to the suit by September 9.

The suit was initiated through K Veeramani, the president of Dravidar Kazhagam and secretary of the Periyar Self Respect Propaganda Institution. According to Veeramani, the book, titled ‘Delimitation and State Reorganisation for Better Democracy in Bharat’, contains false claims that Periyar had advocated the elimination of Brahmins.

Veeramani stated that the authors claimed to have reproduced the controversial passage from an English book titled ‘Collected Works of Periyar’, published in 1981. However, he pointed out that factually no such statement exists in that compilation.

“It is an intentional, willful, malicious statement made by the authors, which is not only defamatory, but also attracts criminal prosecution,” Veeramani said regarding the disputed text.

He further stressed that at no point in his life did Periyar advocate violence or hatred against any community, prompting the institution to approach the high court to seek damages and legal redress.