New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (March 4) rebuked Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks on the ‘sanatana dharma’ while hearing his petition to club the FIRs against him in the matter.Stalin, who had compared sanatana dharma to a disease during a speech in September, 2023, has been booked in six states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.The bench, consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, while addressing the petition, asked him to move the respective high courts and 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?”Stalin’s counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, replied “I have to move six high courts, I’ll constantly be tied up in this…This is persecution before the prosecution.”Justice Datta then reiterated his disapproval of Stalin’s comments, saying, “You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences.”Singhvi relied on precedents involving Amish Devgan, Arnab Goswami, Nupur Sharma, and Mohammed Zubair, where the Supreme Court allowed the consolidation of FIRs in multiple states. The counsel argued that the cause of action in the FIRs was the same, stemming from the Tamil Nadu minister’s controversial remarks.After much persuasion, the bench agreed to examine the plea and scheduled the next hearing for the following Friday, asking Singhvi to present relevant precedents.Stalin’s remarkStalin, a DMK leader and son of Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, got mired in controversy last September for comparing sanatana dharma to diseases like ‘malaria’ and ‘dengue.’ In addition to triggering a political uproar, the comment led to several criminal complaints and PILs seeking action against him. The Supreme Court ultimately had to consolidate related petitions to address concerns about the volume of PILs filed over the minister’s remarks.
