Sanatana Dharma row: DMK attacks Madras HC over verdict favouring Amit Malviya

Chennai (PTI): The ruling DMK on Thursday hit out at the Madras High Court over its verdict quashing an FIR against BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya in the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ row, calling the judgment “wrong” and alleging that a judge’s personal belief had no place in a judicial order.

Reacting to the Madurai Bench’s decision to set aside the FIR registered against Malviya for allegedly distorting Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks on “Sanatana Dharma”, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai said the ruling did not follow basic principles of jurisprudence.

“The judgment is wrong. It does not adhere to a cardinal principle in jurisprudence. Audi Alteram Partem, nobody should be condemned unheard,” he said.

Annadurai also objected to what he described as ideological colour in the verdict.

“The personal belief or ideology of the judge should not find a place in the judgment,” he said.

His remarks came after Union Minister Piyush Goyal posted on social media that the High Court ruling was “a strong rebuke to the DMK’s narrow, anti-Hindu mindset.”

Annadurai rejected the charge that the DMK was anti-Hindu.

He disputed observations in the order that, according to him, suggested the DK and DMK had acted against Hinduism for the past 100 years.

“The most erroneous part is that DK and DMK had acted against Hinduism in the last 100 years. There is nothing that is far from the truth,” he said.

Claiming the party had ensured 69 per cent reservation for Hindus, Annadurai said branding the DMK as anti-Hindu would amount to opposing reservations guaranteed by the Constitution.

The High Court, while quashing the FIR against Malviya, is reported to have questioned why those initiating “hate speech” were allowed to go scot-free while those reacting to it had to face the law.