Madras High Court Justice V Lakshminarayanan on August 28 questioned whether Tamil Nadu Finance Minister N Marie Wilson was the “King of England” to avoid appearing before a Puducherry Judicial Magistrate in an assault case pending against him.
The court made the remark while hearing a petition filed by Wilson seeking to quash the charge sheet filed by the Lawspet Police Station on the basis of a complaint lodged by his sister-in-law Careline Claude.
The remarks came after the Minister’s counsel sought a further exemption from his personal appearance before the Puducherry court. The judge pointed out that when PV Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister of India, he had appeared before a court, and observed that Wilson was only a state Finance Minister.
The court questioned why a person who had appeared before the court before becoming a minister should now claim that he could not appear after assuming office.
Wilson’s counsel said the Minister was undertaking a padayatra from Puducherry to the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni, where the annual feast begins with flag hoisting and devotees from across Tamil Nadu’s districts walk to the shrine. The court did not accept this as a reason for avoiding a date for his personal appearance.
The court also rejected the counsel’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance on the grounds that the Tamil Nadu Assembly was in session. Justice Lakshminarayanan said the court should not give the impression that a minister was above the law.
The court had granted Wilson exemption from appearing before the Puducherry court on August 21 due to Assembly work and had posted the quash petition for August 28. An order dated August 20 records that his appearance had been dispensed with for the August 21 hearing because he was a minister and the Assembly was in session.
Wilson’s counsel said the police appeared to have filed an additional charge sheet against his client and his father, but that a copy had not been served on them. The judge said copies would be served on the accused when they attended the court proceedings.
When the quash petition was listed for admission on July 9, 2026, Justice GK Illanthiraiyan, who was then holding the MP/MLA portfolio, had referred the matter to mediation after it was represented that the complainant and the accused were close relatives.
The July 9 order directed the parties to appear before the Mediation and Conciliation Centre and dispensed with Wilson’s personal appearance before the trial court until then.
After several rounds of mediation, Claude’s counsel on August 20 told the court that his client was not interested in proceeding with mediation. Wilson’s counsel objected to her decision and questioned how the complainant could withdraw midway after agreeing to mediation during the initial hearings of the quash plea.
Justice Lakshminarayanan said the court could not force an unwilling party to undergo mediation. He said he would hear the quash petition on merits. The court subsequently allowed Wilson’s counsel to withdraw the petition, after counsel assured the court that the Minister would appear before the magistrate.
The case dates back to August 8, 2022. According to the complaint registered by the Lawspet Police, Wilson and his father Nestor allegedly broke open the door of the house of Wilson’s brother Marie Claude at Ezhil Nagar in Puducherry and assaulted Claude and his wife Careline Claude.
The First Judicial Magistrate Court in Puducherry is seized of the matter. The offences invoked include Sections 448, 427, 324, 506(i) and 294(b), read with Section 34 of the IPC, relating to alleged house trespass, mischief, causing hurt, criminal intimidation and use of abusive language, among others. The case is recorded as Crime No. 134/2022 and C.C. No. 558/2022.
The issue also comes amid controversy over remarks made by Wilson in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly after he was criticised for his Tamil during the Budget presentation.
Responding to the remark that his Tamil was not good, Wilson said, “I will speak in my own style.” He alleged that people had earlier been body-shamed and insulted on the basis of caste and gender, and said they were now being insulted over language.
Citing the Bible, Wilson said that while he might not be well versed in Tamil, his Christianity had taught him the language of “love, peace, kindness and compassion”. He said he was a born Christian, would speak in his own style and could not change it to suit others.
Wilson also brought a rosary along with his Budget papers and began reading it after completing prayers with “Amen”.
