The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed the FIR registered against BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya for allegedly “distorting the comments” made by Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sanatana Dharma in 2023. The FIR was registered against Malviya by the Tiruchi city police after his post, criticising Stalin’s Sanatana Dharma remarks.
The bench of Justice S Srimathy, while allowing the petition, said that it was unfair to punish someone for reacting to a controversial speech. Justice Srimathy observed that the remarks made by Udhayanidhi amounted to “hate speech”.
The court observed that the minister’s speech must be examined in its entirety and further elaborated that he didn’t merely say that Sanatana Dharma should be opposed, but instead called for its eradication.
‘HC order on Deepam against established law’: DMK Minister S Regupathy vows to move SC
“In Tamil, the expression used was not Sanatana ethirppu (opposition to Sanatana), but Sanatana ozhippu (eradication of Sanatana),” Justice Srimathy noted.
In 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin, while speaking at a conference in Chennai, said ‘Sanatana’ (Sanatan Dharma) is like malaria and dengue, which should not be merely opposed but eradicated.
“A few things cannot be opposed but should only be abolished. We can’t merely oppose dengue, mosquitoes, malaria, or corona. They have to be eradicated. Rather than opposing Sanatana, it should be eradicated.”
In response, Malviya had claimed that the DMK leader had called for the genocide of 80 per cent population of the country.
“Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, and a minister in the DMK Govt, has linked Sanatana Dharma to malaria and dengue…He is of the opinion that it must be eradicated and not merely opposed. In short, he is calling for the genocide of 80% population of Bharat, who follow Sanatan Dharma,” Malviya said on X.