Actor Suriya 'humbled' by High Court decision

Actor Suriya on Friday night said he was deeply moved by the “institutional magnanimity” of the Indian judiciary, hours after the Madras High Court refused to initiate contempt proceedings against his comments on the functioning of courts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I am deeply moved by the institutional magnanimity of the Indian judiciary. I have always held our judiciary in the highest esteem, which is the only hope for upholding the constitutional rights of our people. I am humbled and inspired by the fairness and justice demonstrated by the Hon'ble High Court of Madras,” the actor said in a terse statement issued late on Friday night.

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Suriya’s statement was in response to the refusal of the first bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice J Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy to initiate contempt proceedings against him for his comments that courts have forced students to attend NEET exams while judges were dishing out justice through video conferencing in times of Covid-19.

Justice S M Subramaniam, a judge of the High Court, had sought initiation of contempt proceedings against Suriya contending that the actor’s remarks on the judiciary have not just undermined the Judicial System but criticised in a bad shape. A group of former judges had written to the Chief Justice asking him not to proceed against the actor.

Suriya had on September 13 voiced his support against the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions into medical colleges and tore into the educational policies of the Centre saying the government that should ensure everyone gets equal opportunities is implementing a system that creates a divide.

Terming NEET as “manuneedhi exam”, Suriya, whose family runs the Agaram Foundation that helps thousands of students from under-privileged sections pursue higher education, had appealed to everyone to join hands to raise voice against the exam, which he said, “destroys medical dream” of poor students.