News Brief
'You're A Minister. You Should Know The Consequences': SC Tells Udhayanidhi Stalin On Eradicate Sanatana Dharma Remarks
Nishtha Anushree
Mar 04, 2024, 01:12 PM | Updated 02:32 PM IST
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Coming down heavily on Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks on 'Sanatana Dharma', the Supreme Court on Monday (4 March) asked him whether he didn't know the consequences of saying such things.
While hearing Stalin's plea to club all First Information Reports (FIR) in the case, Justice Dipankar Datta said, "You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences."
"You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences," the Supreme Court told Stalin's lawyer. "You abuse your rights under freedom of speech and expression and the right to freedom of religion, and then come to the Supreme Court for protection under Article 32?" the court asked lawyers representing the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's son.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna advised Stalin to move the high court in the case, responding to which his lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this would be "persecution before prosecution" as he would have to move six high courts.
This is because FIRs were filed at various places including Uttar Pradesh, Bangalore, Patna and Jammu after Stalin likened 'Sanatana Dharma' to diseases like "dengue" and "malaria" and asked for its eradication.
However, when Singhvi cited the cases of Arnab Goswami, Nupur Sharma, Mohammed Zubair, and Amish Devgan where the Supreme Court agreed to club FIRs, the two-judge bench scheduled the hearing for Friday.
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Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.
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