20 Oct 2023 12:48 PM GMT
The Supreme Court on Wednesday tagged another petition over Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's controversial remarks about 'Sanatana Dharma', with two other pleas already pending before the court.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi was hearing a writ petition filed by Hindu organisation Sanatan Suraksha Parishad assailing Udhayanidhi’s comments as hurtful to religious sentiments, and asking for concrete guidelines to prevent politicians and elected representatives from making communal remarks. During today's hearing, Justice Bose asked Senior Advocate Jayant K Sud, who was appearing for the organisation, "You want every parliament and legislative assembly member to be restrained by us?"
"Not restrained," Sud replied, "But there should be some guidelines..."
"How many petition will you people keep on filing?" Justice Trivedi asked.
In response to this, Sud explained that the other petitions were 'prayer-specific', while the current petition sought to "bring about some uniformity across India". He added, "It raises substantial questions. Everyone gets up and says something about another religion or sect. This has to stop. This is contrary to the representatives' oaths."
"There are lawmakers for this purpose. 543 of them in the Parliament. We are only two of us," Justice Bose countered. He also pointed out that while the court had issued notice in the first plea filed by Chennai-based lawyer B Jagannath seeking initiation of criminal proceedings against Udhayanidhi and others, the subsequent plea by another lawyer, Vineet Jindal, was only tagged along with the previous one, without notice being issued.
At the end of Sud's submission, Justice Bose said, "We will not issue any notice, but tag with the other one."
Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK leader and son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, came under the scanner earlier this month for his remarks comparing 'Sanatana Dharma' to diseases like 'malaria' and 'dengue' while advocating for its elimination on grounds that it was rooted in the caste system and historical discrimination. Not only did this trigger a major political row, but also led to several criminal complaints being filed against Udhayanidhi as well as pleas being filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against him.
Last month, the court issued notice in one of the pleas, seeking the response of the State of Tamil Nadu and the embattled minister. Within days, another matter praying for criminal action against Udhayanidhi was taken up by the same bench, leading to Tamil Nadu Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari raising concerns about the volume of public interest litigations (PIL) filed over Udhayanidhi's recent remarks. In response to the law officer's concern over a multiplicity of proceedings, Justice Bose assured, "We are not issuing notice, but tagging this with the other one. We will examine the question of entertaining on the next day."
Case Details
Sanatan Suraksha Parishad v. Union of India & Ors. | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1170 of 2023