New Delhi:Despite strong opposition from the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin over his controversial remarks about 'Sanatan Dharma'. The apex court has tagged this plea with another plea on which the court issued notice last week.
At the beginning of the hearing, a bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi clarified that it would not be issuing notice on this petition, but merely tagging it with the other plea. The court was hearing a plea by Delhi-based lawyer Vineet Jindal alleging that Stalin’s comments constituted hate speech and requested the court to initiate criminal proceedings against him for hurting religious sentiments.
Tamil Nadu Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari opposed the plea and urged the court to not entertain it. Tiwari said these are public interest litigations in the nature of publicity interest litigation and there are several writ petitions filed across the country in different high courts.
He said, "It makes it incredibly difficult for the state. Now, everyone is coming up as a public interest litigant for publicity”. Tiwari questioned the need for another petition when the court had already agreed to hear a similar plea. Justice Bose said the court is not issuing a notice, but tagging this with the other one and added, "We will examine the question of entertaining on the next day”. The counsel, representing the petitioner, said a "genocidal call" has been made by the state.