DMK criticises Madras High Court ruling in Sanatana Dharma case

The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Thursday criticised a Madras High Court judgment related to the “Sanatana Dharma” controversy involving party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, describing the ruling as flawed and influenced by personal views.

The party’s response came after the Madurai Bench of the High Court quashed a first information report against BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, who had been accused of distorting remarks made by Udhayanidhi on Sanatana Dharma.

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said the judgment did not follow basic principles of jurisprudence. “The judgment is wrong. It does not adhere to the cardinal principle of audi alteram partem, which means no one should be condemned unheard,” he said.

Annadurai also objected to what he described as the inclusion of the judge’s personal ideology in the ruling. “The personal belief or ideology of a judge should not find a place in a judicial verdict,” he said, responding to Union minister Piyush Goyal’s social media post that characterised the court’s decision as a “strong rebuke” to what he called the DMK’s “narrow, anti-Hindu mindset”.

Rejecting the allegation, Annadurai insisted that the DMK was not opposed to Hinduism. He said the judgment’s assertion that the DMK and its ideological ally, the Dravidar Kazhagam, had acted against Hinduism for the past 100 years was factually incorrect.

“The DMK is the party that ensured 69 per cent reservation for Hindus. How can that be anti-Hindu?” he asked, adding that opposition to reservation would be contrary to constitutional guarantees.

In its ruling, the High Court questioned why individuals accused of initiating alleged hate speech were allowed to go unpunished while those reacting to such statements faced legal action. On that basis, it set aside the FIR against Malviya, who had been booked for allegedly misrepresenting Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks.

The judgment has sparked a political debate in Tamil Nadu, with the DMK accusing the BJP of politicising the issue and the opposition portraying the ruling as a setback for the state’s governing party.

With PTI inputs