The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Tamil Nadu government and DMK Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin to a petition that sought the registration of an FIR against Udhayanidhi for his statement calling for eradication of Sanatan Dharma.
A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notices to the state government and Udhayanidhi even as it observed that the petitioner had the option of approaching the jurisdictional high court in first instance.
“Why are you here? You go to the high court. Your prayer is that an FIR is to be registered. You are transforming us into a police station,” the apex court said, adding the high court was equally competent to pass the order as requested in the petition.
However, the senior lawyer, representing the petitioner, pointed out that a batch of matters relating to hate speech was pending before the top court.
“When the state itself unleashes tirade against a particular religion and forces the children to speak against a particular religion, the Supreme Court is the only remedy. There is a circular issued by the state authorities two days ago that children would speak against Sanatan Dharma,” he added.
Those arrayed as respondents in the petition also include Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Charitable Endowment minister Sekar Babu, Lok Sabha member of Parliament A Raja, DMK president Veeramani K Veeramani and chairman of Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Peter Alphonse.
