You abused your right: SC to Stalin Jr on Sanatan row
The Supreme Court on Monday rapped Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over his controversial “eradicate Sanatan Dharma” remark and questioned his move to approach the apex court with his plea for clubbing together the FIRs filed against him after abusing his right to freedom of speech and expression.
Observing that being a minister, Mr Stalin should have been careful with his statements and mindful of their possible fallout, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta told the petitioner, “You abuse your right under Article 19(1)(a) (right to freedom of speech and expression of the Constitution). You abuse your right under Article 25 (freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion). Now you are exercising your right under Article 32 (to file the plea in the Supreme Court directly)? Do you not know the consequences of what you said? You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences,” the bench said.
At a conference in September 2023, Mr Stalin had said the Sanatana Dharma is against social justice and equality and should be “eradicated”. Drawing an analogy between the Sanatana Dharma and coronavirus, malaria and dengue, the minister of youth welfare and sports of Tamil Nadu had said it should be destroyed.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Mr Stalin, submitted he was not justifying his client's comments but only seeking consolidation of FIRs lodged against him over the remarks in six states.
To this, the bench asked the petitioner to approach the high courts concerned.