Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday (September 2) announced that the police cases filed against protesting farmers and teachers during the previous DMK regime will be withdrawn. While addressing the state Assembly, Vijay said many cases were filed between May 2021 and April 2026 against farmers and teachers who fought for their livelihoods and rights during the previous regime.
The Chief Minister asserted that the withdrawal of cases would further strengthen democratic rights and deepen the trust between the ordinary people and the government.
Cases to be withdrawn on humanitarian grounds
He said that police cases against farmers who had peacefully protested against the Parandur airport and SIPCOT industrial park expansion projects would be withdrawn. Similarly, cases registered against teachers who had staged democratic protests seeking their rights and raising their demands would also be dropped, Vijay said.
"The government has decided to withdraw all those cases on humanitarian grounds and based on democratic principles," he said.
Tracing the background, he said in Tiruvannamalai district, cases were registered against farmers who participated in protests opposing the SIPCOT project, and some farmers were even booked under the Goondas Act. Similarly, farmers engaged in continuous protests against the Parandur project.
The Parandur airport project has been recently dropped by the TVK government.
"Cases registered inhumanely by the previous government remain pending against these farmers, who protested demanding the scrapping of the airport project out of concern that their agricultural lands, water bodies, and livelihoods would be affected," the CM said.
Peaceful protest is fundamental democratic right
Explaining the decision, the Chief Minister emphasized that the peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right, particularly when citizens are seeking to protect their livelihoods and raise legitimate concerns.
"Farmers are the backbone of our nation's food security, while teachers form the absolute foundation of societal progress by lighting the lamp of education," the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said it was 'grossly unfair' that farmers and teachers who contribute to nation-building were subjected to legal proceedings merely for raising reasonable demands. "It is grossly unfair that those who build our country were subjected to legal harassment simply for voicing reasonable demands," he said, referencing the farmers' protest in Parandur and against the industrial project in SIPCOT, Tiruvannamalai.
Such cases have caused immense mental agony for the affected farmers and teachers, he said.
Recognising teachers as the foundation of societal progress, the Chief Minister said distress was caused to them by pending legal cases for protesting for their reasonable demands.
(With PTI inputs)
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