Social activist and writer Durai Guna alias Gunasekaran was arrested at Karambakudi in Pudukottai district on Monday, days after the police registered a case against him for pasting posters calling for applications to fill the “vacant posts” of District Collector, District Revenue Officer and other officials in protest against the “official inaction” on his plea to remove encroachments from an irrigation tank.
The Karambakudi police, who had registered the case on August 26, went to the photo-copying shop run by Mr. Guna, 39, in Karambakudi town on Monday and arrested him after explaining the reason for their action, police sources said. Mr. Guna was later produced before the Alangudi Judicial Magistrate Court, which remanded him till September 16. He was then lodged in the Pudukottai District Jail.
The case against Mr. Guna was filed under Sections 170 (Personating a public servant) and 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory) of the IPC, read with Section 4 (B) of the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, on a complaint lodged by the Village Administrative Officer of Theerthanviduthi. Mr. Guna had alleged that three persons had illegally occupied three hectares of the Vettukulam tank and had been raising crops there.
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‘Qualifying criteria’
Irked over the ‘inaction’ on the part of the officials, the activist vented his ire by pasting posters and hand bills at various places, ‘inviting’ applications for the post of Collector, District Revenue Officer and Village Administrative Officer. The requisite qualifications for the posts as mentioned in the posters were general knowledge, discipline and self-respect.