The Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin and MP A Raja’s request for an FIR in connection with their comments calling for the eradication of “Sanatan Dharma” were both tagged by the Supreme Court on Wednesday along with a related pending petition. The appeal was not given notice by the panel led by Justice Aniruddha Bose, but the appeal was lumped in with one brought by a lawyer based in Chennai that received notice last week.
Additional Advocate General of the Tamil Nadu government opposed the plea saying these petitions are ‘publicity interest litigations’.
There are 40 writ petitions filed across the country in different High Courts for publicity, which makes it incredibly difficult for the State.
“Everyone filing PILs for publicity, they will go to the media and circulate these,” the bench said.
The bench said it will not issue notice on the plea and tag it along with the pending petition. “We have not issued notice. Let it be tagged. We will see on that day,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court was hearing an application from attorney Vineet Jindal that also sought to hold Delhi and Chennai police in contempt of court for failing to file suo motu FIRs for hate speech in accordance with the Supreme Court’s earlier order. The application was submitted as part of an ongoing hate speech case and asked for the filing of an FIR against Stalin and Rajya Sabha MP A Raja for their actions inflaming religious sentiments, demeaning Hindus, and igniting animosity between various groups based on religion.