Vilathikulam MLA Markandayan moves Madras High Court seeking to set aside judicial remand order

DMK MLA for Vilathikulam G.V. Markandayan, who has been arrested for having reportedly stated that his party legislators would “break the bones” of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay in the Assembly, has approached the Madras High Court challenging his judicial remand order.

Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan on Thursday (July 23, 2026) adjourned the hearing of the petition to Monday (July 27) after hearing preliminary submissions made by senior counsel P. Wilson for the petitioner and State Public Prosecutor R. John Sathyan for the Thoothukudi District Crime Branch (DCB) Police who had arrested the MLA on July 20.

While Mr. Wilson argued that the Thoothukudi judicial magistrate had failed to appreciate the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in connection with arrest in cases involving a maximum punishment of seven years of imprisonment, Mr. Sathyan sought time till Monday to obtain instructions from the Thoothukudi DCB.

Though the petition to set aside the remand order and grant bail to the MLA was filed before the Madurai Bench of the High Court, it was transferred to the principal seat in Chennai since all cases related to Members of Parliament (MPs) and MLAs would have to be listed only before the portfolio judge here.

In his petition, the MLA had contended that the remand order was liable to be set aside as it had been passed without taking into consideration whether the arrest was necessary in the present case without resorting to other measures such as summoning him for inquiry by issuing notice under Section 41A of the Bharatiya  Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

The petitioner said the Thoothukudi DCB had failed to submit before the magistrate the reasons for having concluded that the arrest of the MLA was absolutely necessary, though the provisions under which he had been booked would lead to a maximum punishment of only seven years of imprisonment.

The arrested MLA also argued that his judicial remand was against the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014) and Satendra Kumar Antil vs Central Bureau of Investigation  (2022), in which it had been held that notices of inquiry must be issued to the suspects in criminal cases involving a maximum punishment of up to seven years of imprisonment.

It was also brought to the notice of the court that the DCB had registered the First Information Report (FIR) against the MLA on the basis of a complaint filed by an individual named S. Balasubramanian on July 19, 2026. The complainant was aggrieved by a public speech delivered by the MLA at a meeting organised by the DMK near the Kovilpatti Krishnan temple on July 18.

He had accused the MLA of having threatened that his party legislators would “break the bones of the Chief Minister inside the Legislative Assembly”. Hence, the FIR was registered under Sections 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The MLA was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on July 20. The magistrate had ordered his remand till August 3, after taking into consideration the gravity of the public speech delivered by him and also the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar’s case.