Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention in getting charges against arrested Tamil singer and anti-liquor campaigner Kovan dropped.
In his letter, Katju said that Kovan was arrested on October 30 near Trichy for criticising the Tamil Nadu government over sale of liquor and on charges of sedition.
Noting that in a democracy, people have the right to criticise the government, he said that Kovan had not committed any violence or done anything which posed any imminent threat of violence.
If anything therein is defamatory then a case of defamation could have been filed against Kovan, but there was certainly no warrant to slap sedition charges against him, he said, adding Chief Minister Jayalalithaa acted unconstitutionally.
Katju, in his letter, urged the President to excercise his constitutional powers to get the charges against Kovan dropped.
Published 10 November 2015, 06:02 IST