Madras High Court Issues Notice In Pleas Seeking Quo Warranto Against A Raja, Udhayanidhi Stalin & Sekar Babu For Their Remarks Against Sanatana Dharma

The three writ petitions have been filed by V.P. Jayakumar, Kishore Kumar and T. Manohar, State Secretaries of Hindu Munnani, in their personal capacity. The Writ Petitions have been filed through Advocate A. Jagadeeswari and others.

Senior Advocate G. Karthikeyan appeared for the petitioners in the three cases on Friday before the bench of Justice Anita Sumanth.  Advocate General appeared on behalf of the Special Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in two cases, whereas private notice was issued to the Secretary-General of Lok-Sabha in the petition against A Raja. Senior Advocate P Wilson took notice on behalf of Udhayanidhi Stalin and A Raja. "List on 11.10.2023 - Notice - Private Notice to R2 in WP 29204 of 2023", said the order of the Court. The Court has asked the petitioners to produce the video of the speeches of the three persons and also the transcripts of the speeches.

Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin had allegedly called for the eradication of Sanatan Dharma and compared it to mosquitoes, dengue, corona, and malaria while the DMK leader and Lok Sabha MP from the State A Raja had allegedly stated that, "Udhayanidhi Stalin was soft in comparing and claiming that it should be eradicated like malaria and dengue. But these diseases don't have a social stigma. To be honest, leprosy was seen as disgusting and so was HIV. So, we need to see this as a disease ridden with social plights like HIV and leprosy". 

As per the pleas, the words clearly expressed their hatred towards the Hindus who follow Sanatana Dharma. Furthermore, stipulates that persons with such hatred towards a particular faith with the intention to eradicate the faith from society, cannot hold any responsible post especially the most responsible and powerful posts like they hold.

“…it is unfortunate that, the Ministers who are supposed to be secular and against any faiths, values or beliefs took part in a meeting, which was conducted openly declaring that, it's a meeting to eradicate Sanathan Dharma…while the facts remain so, the participation of the Minister for HR&CE in a meeting with a declaration of eradication of Sanathana Dharma is not only unfortunate but also untenable. If the Minister for HR&CE Department participates in a meeting to eradicate Hindu Religion, he becomes unqualified to be the guardian / administrator of the Hindu temples. For this reason alone he loses his qualification to continue as the Minister for HR&CE Department”, one of the plea reads.

The petitioners claimed that the said speech thus violated the principles of Fundamental Duties enumerated in Article 51-A (c)(e) of the Constitution of India which casts certain mandatory duties. The plea while narrating another incident where A Raja had also claimed in a meeting that all Hindus are sons of prostitutes says that it attracts criminal offences under Section 295(A) of IPC. It was also stated in the plea that as MPs and MLAs elected by people belonging to various faiths, they are supposed to be a representative of every citizen of the State and they cannot be an inspiration for others to commit similar criminal offence.

Accordingly, the bench has listed the matter for further hearing on October 11, 2023.

Recently, the Supreme Court issued notice in a writ petition filed against the "Sanatana Dharma Eradication Conference" held in Tamil Nadu where Stalin made the controversial remarks.  However, the Apex Court refused to issue notice in a subsequent case and instead tagged it along with the first case. 

An FIR has already been registered in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh against Udhayanidhi Stalin and Priyank Kharge, the son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for their alleged hate speech against Sanatan Dharma. Earlier, a letter had been addressed to Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud by a group of concerned individuals including the retired Judges of several High Courts and bureaucrats seeking judicial intervention of the Apex Court in the matter of hate speech made by Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Cause Title: Kishore Kumar v. PK Sekar Babu and Anr.