Justice N. Senthilkumar of the Madras High Court on Monday (October 6, 2025) said he chose to ignore the social media trolling he was subjected to after he recorded his “strong condemnation” for the way actor C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) had responded to the stampede at the party’s rally in Karur on September 27.

The judge broached the subject during the hearing of a civil suit filed by popular chef and film actor Madhampatty T. Rangaraj to restrain costume designer Joy Crizildaa from making false, malicious, and defamatory statements against him in any form of media, stating that they disparage his personality rights.

When senior counsel Srinath Sridevan argued about the damage caused to his client because of the “defamatory” statements made by Ms. Crizildaa on social media, the judge said: “Senior counsel, please tell me who is spared on social media these days. Even judges are trolled day in and out.”

In an oblique reference to him and his family members being trolled heavily after his October 3 verdict constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Karur tragedy, which led to the loss of 41 innocent lives, Justice Senthilkumar asked: “Do you mean to say that we are not experiencing it?”

He went on to state: “Just because others have a divergent view, our family members are pulled in, past history is pulled in, and they start painting colours to a judge. These things do happen, but why should we take a serious note of all these things? In fact, we should just smile and ignore them.”

When Mr. Sridevan, assisted by advocate Vijayan Subramanian, said not every individual would have the mental strength to ignore such character assassination in public fora, the judge replied: “When you gain fame and reach a particular status in society, these things are bound to happen.”

Later, the judge ordered notice to Ms. Crizildaa and asked her senior counsel S. Prabakaran to make sure that a counter affidavit was filed by October 22. He also refused to pass any kind of interim order against her without giving an opportunity to file her response.

At the end of the hearing, Mr. Prabakaran, also the vice-chairman of the Bar Council of India, told the judge the Bar stands fully in support of the judge and he need not take the trolling to heart. The judge replied it was exactly what he had been saying all along.