An economist, A Kalaiyarasan, was briefly detained by the Chennai Police due to an allegedly abusive Instagram comment attributed to a fake account using his photo. The academic denied having an Instagram account or knowing the targeted MLA.
On Wednesday, the Chennai Police detained economist A Kalaiyarasan over an allegedly abusive Instagram comment about a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA. According to The Indian Express, police personnel in plain clothes arrived at Kalaiyarasan's Chennai home around 5 am and took him away in a rented car without furnishing any authorizing document. This incident occurred after the academic appeared in a television interview discussing inflation in Tamil Nadu, as reported by The News Minute. During his detention, the officers showed him a screenshot of the comment posted by an account named @youvijayamani that allegedly used his photograph. Kalaiyarasan said he had no connection with the account and suspected that his photograph was taken from the website of Harvard University, where he had worked as a research affiliate. The officers also asked him to submit a written statement denying any association with the account. In his complaint to the Tamil Nadu director general of police, Kalaiyarasan sought action against the personnel involved and those responsible for misusing his photograph and publishing allegedly derogatory comments using his identity.
TVK leads the ruling coalition in Tamil Nadu. The detention drew criticism from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin who condemned the police action, and demanded an apology from Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and the police. Stalin alleged that the academic had been 'illegally arrested for exposing the unprecedented rise in prices under the current administration' and called it 'a peak display of fascism by the government!'. The TVK has denied allegations of political vendetta and said that the police inquiry was unrelated to Kalaiyarasan’s remarks about rising rice prices.
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