Sanatan Dharma remark: Supreme Court issues notice to Udhayanidhi Stalin on petition alleging hate speech

New Delhi, September 22

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Tamil Nadu Government and its minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on a petition seeking registration of an FIR against him for his “eradicate Sanatan Dharma” remark.

Acting on a petition filed by B Jagannath, a Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M Trivedi asked the Tamil Nadu Government and Udayanidhi to respond to the petition.

Alleging that the remarks amounted to hate speech, Jagannath pointed out that the top court had in similar cases ordered registration of FIR.

“This court has taken note of similar matters where individuals make such a statement against another’s faith but in this case it is a minister making the statement. Here it is a state, which is telling the school students that so and so religion is wrong,” senior advocate D Seshadri Naidu submitted on behalf of the petitioner.

Besides registration of an FIR for hate speech against the minister, Naidu also urged the top court to restrain him from making any such statement. “We are also seeking that students should be kept out of this,” he added.

As the Bench said the Supreme Court can’t be turned into a police station by approaching it for registration of FIR and that the petitioner should have approached the high court concerned, Naidu said the petitioner was compelled to move the top court as the police didn’t lodge an FIR against the minister.

Earlier, 262 eminent citizens, including former judges and bureaucrats, had written to CJI DY Chandrachud urging him to take cognisance of Stalin’s “eradicate Sanatan Dharma” remark.

The top court had on April 28 directed all states and union territories to register cases against those making hate speeches without waiting for complaints.