Supreme Court rebukes Udhayanidhi Stalin for remarks on Sanatana Dharma, says he abused free speech rights

The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for comments against Sanatana Dharma, which had sparked outrage last year. .A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta orally observed that Stalin had abused his rights under Articles 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) of the Indian Constitution in making such comments. The Court added that Stalin should have been more aware of the consequences of his remarks. ."You have abused your rights under 19(1)a and 25! You know what you have said and now have come under 32? You should have realised the consequences, you are a Minister, not a layman," the Court said..The Court made the remark on a plea by Stalin to club multiple first information reports (FIRs) registered against him for his remarks on Sanatana Dharma. On September 2, 2023, at a conference organised by the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Artists Association in Chennai, Udhayanidhi Stalin had said that a few things must not merely be opposed but should be eradicated.“Just like dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or coronavirus need to be eradicated, we have to eradicate Sanatana,” he had said leading to widespread outrage.Days later, 262 persons including 14 retired High Court judges wrote a letter urging the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against Stalin for his controversial comments.Weeks later, a plea was filed before the Supreme Court seeking the registration of a criminal case against Stalin. Last month, a trial court in Bengaluru ordered the registration of an FIR against Stalin for his remarks. Petitions are pending before the Madras High Court as well seeking removal of Stalin as Minister. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader is presently Tamil Nadu's Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development.Meanwhile, Stalin clarified that his statement on Sanatana Dharma was not against Hinduism or the Hindu way of life but was merely a call for ending caste based discriminatory practices. .Before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented Stalin today and sought the clubbing of FIRs lodged in various States in light of judgments in cases of Arnab Goswami, Mohd Zubair, Nupur Sharma and Amish Devgan. The Court initially suggested that Stalin move different High Courts. Singhvi, however, urged for clubbing of the FIRs. He stated that he was not arguing on merits and was ready to accept the consequences."This (the remarks) was said in a private meeting," he said, while urging the Court to club all the FIRs.Justice Datta, however, questioned why witnesses from other States should be made to visit a different State by clubbing all the FIRs and having the matter heard in a single State..As the hearing drew to a close, Singhvi also remarked that controversial remarks made by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, Nupur Sharma about Prophet Muhammad in 2022 were "no less" hateful.The Court eventually agreed to hear Stalin's plea further on March 15, after going through the judgments and the progress of trials in some of the FIRs against Stalin. Notably, Justice Khanna was part of the division bench that allowed clubbing of FIRs alleging hate speech by news anchor, Amish Devgan.