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Udhayanidhi Stalin Detained and Released Following Alleged Remarks About Actor Trisha

evening · · thread: Udhayanidhi Stalin Detained and Released Following Alleged Remarks About Actor Trisha

4 sources · India

Who reported this

  • Scroll.in India · Left · Scroll Media Inc, reader-funded
  • The Hindu India · Centre-left · Kasturi & Sons (family-owned)
  • The Indian Express India · Centre · Indian Express Group (Goenka family)
  • Hindustan Times India · Centre-right · HT Media (KK Birla group)

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

Every source for this story reports from India.

Tamil Nadu Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin was detained on Tuesday from his residence in Chennai and taken to Thanjavur for questioning. The action followed a complaint filed by a functionary of the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party, which accused Stalin of making obscene and sexually suggestive remarks about actor Trisha Krishnan during a public rally on Monday. The Madras High Court later directed the police to release Stalin on station bail after questioning was completed. The TVK government informed the court that it did not intend to keep the DMK leader in custody.

The controversy began during a protest regarding the Cauvery water dispute. While Stalin was criticizing Chief Minister Joseph Vijay for the government's failure to secure water for the state, the crowd began chanting the name of actor Trisha, a former co star of the Chief Minister. Stalin allegedly responded with a double entendre that was interpreted as a suggestive remark about the relationship between the Chief Minister and the actress. He was booked under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.

Stalin has denied any wrongdoing, stating that he did not name anyone and that the allegations are false. His father, DMK chief M.K. Stalin, described the detention as a fascist move by the TVK government to prevent Udhayanidhi from attending the Assembly session for the budget presentation. Conversely, representatives from the BJP and TVK, as well as figures from the film industry including Kushboo Sundar and Kangana Ranaut, condemned the remarks as vulgar and derogatory toward women.

Outlets with a center right lean emphasized the obscenity of the remarks and the necessity of the legal action to protect the dignity of women. Outlets with a center left or left lean focused on the legal proceedings and the potential political motivation behind the arrest. Center outlets provided a broader analysis of the political rivalry between the two former cinema associates and the reactions from the film fraternity.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
This framing emphasized the legal process and the specific details of the court's directive for release.
Centre
These outlets focused on the personal history between the two leaders and the broader cultural and political implications of the arrest.
Centre-right
These outlets highlighted the vulgarity of the alleged comments and framed the detention as a justified response to misogyny.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.