Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Supreme Court on Monday (January 27, 2025) declined to entertain three writ petitions to initiate criminal proceedings against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over his September 2023 speech on Sanatana Dharma.
A Bench headed by Justice Bela Trivedi questioned the maintainability of the writ petitions even as senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, and P. Wilson, representing Mr. Udhayanidhi, submitted that the pleas ought to be dismissed outright.
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The petitioners, advocate B. Jagannath and two others, represented by senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, said Mr. Udhayanidhi’s remarks, which allegedly drew a comparison between Sanatana Dharma and diseases such as dengue and malaria, amounted to hate speech.
The petitioners wanted his speech to be declared as violative of the fundamental right to freedom of religion (Article 25) under the Constitution.
When the court expressed doubts about raising these pleas through writ petitions, Mr. Naidu sought, and was given, permission to withdraw the case. The Bench allowed the petitioners to withdraw with liberty to pursue other remedies available under the law.
The court had issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and Mr. Udhayanidhi over Mr. Jagannath’s petition on September 22, 2023.
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The petition had urged the court to direct the State police to register an FIR against Mr. Udhayanidhi and others who participated in the ‘Sanatana Dharma Eradication Conference’ held on September 2, 2023 in Chennai by an organisation called Tamil Nadu Murpoku Ezuthalar Sangam. The petition had also sought a CBI probe to unearth “sources responsible for contribution of amount for such organisations and whether there is any element of terror-funding involved from across the border”.
“The conference was held specifically to target Hinduism (also referred as Sanatana Dharma),” the petition had claimed.
Published – January 28, 2025 12:53 am IST