Chief Justice of Madras High Court Indira Banerjee has reportedly recused herself from hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) that wants to ban the article ‘Tamizhai Andal’ written by lyricist Vairamuthu.
The first Division Bench comprised Justice Abdul Quddhose, Justice Banerjee and her, however, the Chief Justice felt that such a case should be handled by someone who is more proficient in Tamil.
“I know only “Konjam (little), Konjam Tamil,” she reportedly said.
According to The Hindu, the case has since been directed to a bench of Justices S Manikumar and Bhavani Subbaroyan.
The PIL petition was filed by advocates M Mohideen Ibrahim and G Prabhu, painting contractor A Victor and software engineer KVS Kannan, alleging that the National Award-winning lyricist “misquoted the shrine hymns and pasurams (verses) of Annai Andal and misinterpreted the same according to his whims and fancies.”
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Last month, Vairamuthu, in a speech, had said that 7th Century saint poet Andal was part of the Devadasi community who lived and died at the Srirangam temple in Tiruchirappalli. He had quoted from the book Indian Movements: Some Aspects of Dissent Protest and Reform. His comments, however, sparked a huge controversy with filmmaker Bharathiraja and politician Seeman defending him.
The petitioners, so far, want Vairamuthu”s ‘Tamizhai Andal’ to be prevented from being reprinted, published, circulated, marketed or sold.