Udhayanidhi Stalin came under fire earlier this month for comparing ‘Sanatana Dharma’ to diseases like ‘ malaria’ and ‘dengue’.
The Supreme Court on Friday consented to hear a case seeking the registration of an FIR against Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin over his contentious remarks on ‘Sanatana dharma’.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notices on a petition filed by B Jagannath seeking a FIR against the Tamil Nadu minister on the grounds that the remarks are hate speech and that the Supreme Court has issued several directions in similar cases, including the registration of a FIR.
For the petitioner, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu said that the minister reportedly encouraged school pupils to state that this religion is bad and that the other religion is excellent.
“This court has taken note of similar cases where individuals make such a statement against another’s faith, but in this case, the statement is made by a minister.” “Here is a state telling schoolchildren that so and so religion is wrong,” Naidu remarked.
The bench asked Naidu what he wanted from the court, to which the senior counsel replied that he wanted a restraining order against the minister (Stalin) and, secondly, that an FIR be filed.
“We’re also trying to keep students out of it,” he added.
“Although we are issuing a notice, you are converting the Supreme Court into a police station by seeking it for FIR registration,” the court noted. You should have taken your case to the Supreme Court.”
Naidu claimed that they were forced to go to court because he is a minister, and that when they went to record a FIR, no one did.
The petition also sought an FIR against the organizers of the September 2 “Sanatana Dharma Eradication conference,” as well as Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Charitable Endowment Minister PK Sekar Babu and State Minorities Commission Chairman Peter Alphonse. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi also sought responses from the Tamil Nadu government, the CBI, and nine other parties.
