The Supreme Court of India issued notices on Friday to the Tamil Nadu state government and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) party politician Udhayanidhi Stalin over his controversial comment on Sanatan Dharma - another phrase for Hinduism.
As per media reports, the notices were sent to the state youth welfare minister and son of Tamil Nadu state chief M.K. Stalin, by the bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi.
Notices have likewise been issued to parliamentarians A Raja, Thirumavalan, Su Venkatesan, Tamil Nadu's director general of police (DGP), Greater Chennai Police commissioner, the Minister for Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowment Department PK Sekar Babu, and Chairman of Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Peter Alphonse
The case has been bought by B. Jagannath, a Madras lawyer, whom the Supreme Court judges urged to take the lawsuit to a high court instead.
“Why are you here? You go to the high court. You are transforming us into a police station,” the bench said, adding that the high court was equally competent to pass the order as requested in the petition.
Contending the observation of the top court’s bench, the senior lawyer representing the petitioner said that a batch of matters related to hate speech was pending in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court refused to link the matter with other hate speech case.
Controversy Over Udhayanidhi’s Remark
Udhayanidhi Stalin compared Sanatan Dharma with diseases like malaria and dengue and gave a call to eradicate it on September 2 while addressing a public gathering.
His remarks triggered outrage with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming his remarks were “genocidal”.
Defiant by the outrage, Udhayanidhi reiterated his stance on September 4, saying that “he will continue to say this."