NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday tagged SC Advocate Vineet Jindal’s plea seeking the registration of an FIR against DMK minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his 'Sanatana Dharma’ remarks with a plea filed by Advocate B Jagannath also praying for similar reliefs.
While equating Sanatan Dharma to “dengue and malaria”, DMK youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said that Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice, and that it should be eradicated. Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is also an actor, is the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ruling DMK chief M K Stalin.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi however, refused to issue a formal notice in Jindal’s plea.
Drawing the court’s attention towards numerous PILs filed against Stalin’s recent remarks in various high courts, the Tamil Nadu government appearing through Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari said, “These are public interest litigation in the nature of ‘publicity interest litigation’. There are 40 writ petitions filed across the country in different high courts. It makes it incredibly difficult for the state. Now everyone is coming up as a public interest litigant for publicity. Then, they will go to the media and circulate these. This is really unfortunate.”
Opposing the Additional Advocate General's submission, Jindal appearing through Advocate Raj Kishor Chaudhary told the court that a genocidal call had been made by the state.
His plea has claimed such remarks against Sanatan Dharma amounted to "hate speech".
The top court had on April 28 this year directed all states and union territories to register cases against those making hate speeches even if no complaint was made.