YouTuber Maridhas has moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him by the Madurai police.

In his petition, M. Maridhas said on December 9, he had posted a message regarding the death of Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

He said he asked the government to take action against “the persons who smile on the death of the Chief of the Defence Staff”. Instead, the government had taken action against him, Mr. Maridhas said.

He said he had raised his voice against separatism and terrorism, as a social activist. Mr. Maridhas said the Madurai police had registered the FIR against him under multiple sections of the IPC. He said there were no materials to invoke the provisions against him. The petition has been listed before Justice G.R. Swaminathan, and will be taken up for hearing on December 13.

The Madurai police had picked up Mr. Maridhas for an inquiry over his social media post, which questioned whether Tamil Nadu was turning into another Kashmir.

The Central Crime Branch of the Chennai police on Saturday formally arrested Mr. Maridhas, in connection with a pending case of forgery. The Madurai police had arrested Mr. Maridhas and lodged him in Theni prison. The CCB arrested him at the prison in connection with the case, registered last year on a complaint from Vinay Sarawagi, associate executive editor, News18 group.