BJP functionary arrested for abusing driver, assaulting students in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tamil Nadu police on Saturday arrested a state-level BJP functionary for abusing the crew of a Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus and assaulting students who were travelling on the vehicle’s footboard in Kundrathur in neighbouring Kanchipuram district. 

Ranjana Nachiyar, who has acted in a few Tamil films and is the secretary of BJP’s Art & Culture wing, stopped an MTC bus plying on route no 188 between Kundrathur on the outskirts of the city to Saidapet in the heart of Chennai on Thursday evening. She had overtaken the bus and stopped her car in the middle of the road after seeing students travelling on the footboard of the bus. 

A video shot near the Porur signal showed Ranjana arguing with the bus driver and asking him how he can allow students to travel dangerously on the footboard of the bus. In the video, she could be seen picking up a heated argument with the bus conductor and asking him to “slap with slippers” those travelling on the footboard. 

Within minutes, she began assaulting school students and slapping them despite them pleading her not to do so. The actress-politician was also seen abusing students in the video. 

The police arrested Ranjana on Saturday morning based on a complaint filed by R Saravanan, the bus driver, who accused her of preventing him from discharging his duty. The driver also alleged that Ranjana abused him in full public glare.

A case under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), and 290 (punishment for public nuisance) of the Indian Penal Code has been filed against Ranjana. 

In the evening, a court in Sriperumbudur granted conditional bail to Ranjana asking her to appear before the police in Mangadu twice a day for 40 days. 

There was high drama at her residence in Gerugambakkam on Saturday when police went to arrest her. The actor-politician said male police officers banged on her window when she was changing her clothes and as she demanded an arrest warrant from them. 

Though the BJP didn’t officially react to the arrest, one of its functionaries, Karthik Gopinath, took to Twitter to condemn police action. 

“She has been arrested for an act she had committed out of genuine concern for the school students. In fact it is the Transport Department and School Education Department Ministers who have to be held accountable for this plight despite 70 years of Dravidian rule. All this just because she belongs to the BJP?” he asked.