Bengaluru/Chennai, April 24 -- The Madras high court on Wednesday initiated suo motu proceedings against Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudy over his recent controversial remarks.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh said Ponmudy's comment was "prima facie" akin to "hate speech," and directed the High Court Registry to place the suo motu case before chief justice K Sriram to decide on the further course of action in the matter.

On April 17, justice Venkatesh took serious note of the issue after an extract of the video containing Ponmudy's remarks was played in open court by a lawyer, during the hearing of a 2023 suo motu revision petition taken up by the court against the minister's acquittal in a case of disproportionate assets. This case was also init...