tamil-nadu

Updated: Oct 06, 2019 18:24 IST

Veteran AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan said on Saturday the wind should be booked in connection with the death of 23-year-old woman engineer who died after a hoarding fell on her in Chennai in September.

R Subhashree was on her two-wheeler when a hoarding installed by an AIADMK functionary in south Chennai fell on her. She lost her balance, fell on the road and was crushed to death by a water tanker. Former AIADMK councillor Jayagopal was arrested for endangering Subhashree’s life and causing death by negligence.

“Jayagopal, who had kept the banner ahead of his family marriage function, had not pulled it on Subhashree. So, it is inappropriate to file an FIR against him,” Ponnaiyan said while speaking to a Tamil channel.

“It was the wind flow which tumbled the banner. If at all a case has to be filed, it has to be filed against the wind,” the former minister said.

Ponnaiyan’s statement has drawn the ire of the opposition and people on social media platforms.

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said that the statement shows the insensitivity of AIADMK leaders.

“The AIADMK leader’s statement is mocking the death of Subhashree. No AIADMK man had met and consoled Subhashree’s family yet. We believe it was the reason why late AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa did not allow her party men to talk to media,” Annadurai said while speaking to HT.

Ponnaiyan, however, said while speaking to HT that his statement was misinterpreted.

“I was trying to say that the hoarding was not erected to kill someone. The intention behind erecting the banner was to give simple publicity to the function. Then how come a case could be booked against Jayagopal despite that the fact that he had no intention to kill the woman,” Ponnaiyan said.

“Putting up banners ahead of functions is a common practice across the country. As wild winds had blown on the day, it pulled the hoarding on Subhashree. So, the wind is the only reason for this incident. So, I mentioned this in my television interview,” he added.

Madras high court has lashed out at the AIADMK government for not controlling the erection of illegal banners across the state. Following the high court’s charge, major political parties including the DMK, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) have urged their party workers not to erect banners.

The AIADMK-led state government on Thursday approached Madra high court to allow banners ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese premier Xi Jinping’s Sino-Indo submit in Mamallapuram, which is scheduled to be held from October 11-13.

A division bench of justice M Sathyanarayanan and justice N Seshasayee permitted the erection of flex boards along the 60-km stretch from the Chennai airport to Mamallapuram ahead of the summit.

The court has also cleared that the restrictions are only for political parties and not for governments.