The Supreme Court has issued notice in the writ petition filed against the "Sanatana Dharma Eradication Conference" held in Tamil Nadu earlier this month.

The Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Bela M. Trivedi issued notice in the matter and remarked that the Court is being turned into a police station.

The Bench initially asked the Petitioners why they had not approached the High Court. Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu who appeared for the Petitioner replied that the case does not pertain to an individual but that the State and constitutional functionaries are involved. He handed over a list of cases pending before the Court in relation to the same issue and requested the Bench to tag the case with the batch of cases relating to hate speech.

The Bench then issued notice and did not pass any order tagging the matter to the batch of cases relating to hate speech. Justice Bose remarked that the Supreme Court is being turned into a police station.

The writ petition filed by Advocate B. Jagannath, who practices in the Madras High Court, contends that the conference held on September 2 in Chennai by an organization named the Tamil Nadu Murpoku Ezuthalar Sangam was conducted with the intent of eradicating a specific religion.

The Petition filed through the Advocate-on-Record Gopalan Balaji and settled by Senior Advocate P. Valliappan submits that the Conference was held specifically to target Hinduism (also referred to as "Sanatana Dharma") and to abuse, humiliate, speak in derogatory language and spread hatred towards Sanatana Dharma.

It had also been highlighted in the Petition that the said conference was attended by Tamil Nadu's Hindu Religious Charitable Endowment Minister Sekar Babu, Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udaynidhi Stalin, President of Dravida Kazhagam Veeramani, Chairman of Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission Peter Alphonse, Congress Party MLA, and VCK Member of Parliament Thol Thirumalvalavan.

Earlier, an interlocutory application was filed before the Apex Court seeking registration of FIR against Stalin and Member of Parliament from DMK and former Union Minister A. Raja who had made similar remarks as Stalin. 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.

Prior to that, a letter was 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. Various others across the country have approached authorities seeking FIR against Stalin.

Cause Title: B. Jagannath v. The State Of Tamil Nadu (W.P.(C) No. 001001 - / 2023)

Justice Aniruddha BoseJustice Bela M TrivediHate SpeechUdhayanidhi StalinSanathana Dharma

Ramey Krishan Rana