'Sanatana dharma disease' remark: Supreme court rebukes Stalin
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New Delhi: Serving a setback to Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over alleged objectionable remarks on 'sanatana dharma', the Supreme Court rebuked him on Monday. The court was hearing his petition to club all the FIRs against him in the matter, The Wire reported.
Stalin was named in multiple FIRs from six states over a speech by him in September last year where he equated sanatana dharma to a disease. The FIRs were filed from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
Asking him to move respective high courts, Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said, "You abuse your Article 19(1)(a) right. You abuse your Article 25 right. Now you are exercising your Article 32 right? Do you not know the consequences of what you said?" quoted The Wire.
Appearing for Stalin, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi replied that he had to move six high courts and, "I'll constantly be tied up in this…" The lawyer contended that it is persecution before prosecution.
But, Justice Datta repeated his disapproval of Stalin's statement. He reminded Stalin that the latter was no layman but a minister and should be aware of the consequences of the statements he made.
Then, Singhvi submitted the precedents involving Amish Devgan, Arnab Goswami, Nupur Sharma, and Mohammed Zubair before the court, where the Supreme Court allowed the consolidation of FIRs in multiple states.
He said that the cause of filing all six FIRs was the same, which was the remarks by Stalin in his speech. Following much persuasion, the SC bench agreed to hear the plea and posted the next hearing on the matter to Friday. The court also directed Singhvi to present relevant precedents then.
Son of DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Udhayanidhi Stalin triggered the controversy in September last year, liking sanatana dharma with diseases like 'malaria' and 'dengue'. The comment caused a severe political uproar and prompted the filing of many criminal complaints and PILs against him.