‘You are not a layman, you should know consequences’

Court scolds Tamil Nadu Minister for ‘eradicate Sanatan dharma’ comment, questions plea to combine FIRs

The Supreme Court on Monday rebuked Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over his “eradicate Sanatan dharma” remark and asked why he has moved the court with his plea for clubbing together the FIRs filed against him after abusing his right to freedom of speech and expression.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta told Stalin that being a minister he should have been careful with his statements and mindful of the possible consequences they could have. “You abuse your right under Article 19(1)(a) (right to freedom of speech and expression of the Constitution). You abuse your right under Article 25 (freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion).”

“Now you are exercising your right under Article 32 (to file plea in the Supreme Court directly)? Do you not know the consequences of what you said? You are not a layman. You are a minister. You should know the consequences,” the bench said and adjourned the matter till March 15. Udhayanidhi Stalin, the minister of youth welfare and sports of Tamil Nadu, is a well known film actor and son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ruling DMK chief M K Stalin. 

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!