Supreme Court Bars Registration Of Further Cases Against TN Dy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin Over 'Sanatana Dharma' Remarks Without Its Permission

The Supreme Court today (March 6) directed that no further FIRs/complaints should be registered against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin without its permission in relation to his remarks against 'Sanatan Dharma'.

The bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing the plea by Stalin for clubbing of criminal cases registered against him across multiple states over his controversial 'Sanatana Dharma' remarks.

Previously, the Court extended the interim order granted to Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for exemption for physically appearing before lower courts conducting proceedings against his 'Sanatana Dharma' remarks. 

Today, the Court in its order clarified that the interim order would continue and would be applicable to the recently registered cases against Stalin. 

During the hearing, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi along with Sr Adv P Wilson appearing for Stalin informed that a fresh case has been registered against him in Bihar and an amendment application in that regard has been filed seeking to implead the complainants in the Bihar complaint in the present writ petition. 

Singhvi also cited the cases of Nupur Sharma, Mohammad Zubair and Arnab Goswami where the Courts had allowed the clubbing of FIRs and trial at one place. Referring to the Nupur Sharma case, Singhvi stressed " In Nupur Sharma, the words are supposed to be much more offensive, lordship transferred in all other cases to the first place (where FIR first registered)- that's the solution in this case."

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the state of Maharashtra interjected to highlight : 

" It was Sanatan Dharma Eradication Conference...the Deputy Chief Minister said that Sanatana Dharma is to be eradicated like malaria, Corona, dengue etc ....kindly appreciate that if a Chief Minister of another state says that a particular religion, say Islam, should be eradicated..." 

The CJI, however, weighed in to point out that the main issue before the Court is not the case on merits but whether the multiple FIRs be transferred to a single place. He said : 

"We are not going into merits, only on the questions whether it should be transferred to one place." 

The SG then added, "Merely because the community sought to be eradicated is not reacting by violent threatening ....." 

The CJI asserted, " Mr Mehta we would not like the Apex Court to comment on any words, they have an impact on the trial". 

Wilson argued that the context of the remarks by Stalin have been misunderstood.

This was followed by a heated exchange as follows :

Singhvi: My friend is speaking for another audience

SG: No, I have no other audience, I cannot hold press conferences

Singhvi: You are holding one now inside the Court

The bench proceeded to pass the following order : 

"Issue notice to the newly added respondents, returnable in the week commencing .....amendment application is allowed, issue notice to newly added respondents on steps taken by petitioner....liberty is granted to newly added respondents to file response within 15 days from the date of service, rejoinder if any after 15 days, interim order to continue and will equally apply to the cases mentioned in the amended WP. We direct no further cases be registered without the permission of this court" 

After the passing of the said order, SG requested the Court to hear the present issue with the pending matter dealing with the issue of Hate speech across the country. The Court declined the same, saying that the other matter dealt with larger issues .

Wilson urged that SG should not bring a political tangent to a matter which is purely on legal issue. He said : 

"Politcal is different than legal, let the learned friend not mix political with legal"  

Stalin had filed the instant case under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking reliefs in connection with the cases registered against him across the country over the controversial 'Sanatana Dharma' remarks. 

Case Title: Udhayanidhi Stalin v. The State of Maharashtra and Ors., W.P.(Crl.) No. 104/2024 

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