The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that no new first information reports be registered against Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks calling for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma, Live Law reported.

A two-judge bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued the interim order on a plea by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader to consolidate all criminal cases filed against him in the matter.

Sanatana Dharma is a term some people use as a synonym for Hinduism. At a press conference in Chennai on September 2, Udhayanidhi Stalin, who is the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, said that Sanatana Dharma was akin to dengue and malaria and should hence be annihilated.

The Supreme Court clarified that its previous directives allowing the minister to be exempted from arrest and from appearing physically in lower courts would stand.

The court had previously criticised Udhayanidhi Stalin, saying that he had abused his right to freedom of speech and expression.

The top court observed verbally that the minister had abused his rights under Article 19(1)(a), or the right to freedom of speech and expression, and under Article 25 (the right to freely practice, profess and propagate religion) of the Constitution.

“Now you are exercising your right under Article 32 [right to seek constitutional remedy from the Supreme Court]?” the bench had questioned.

On Thursday, the hearing got heated when Chief Justice Khanna told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that “you cannot keep filing first information reports like this”, after the court was informed that a fresh case had been filed in Bihar.

Mehta, however, responded that he was not filing fresh cases and that he simply represented the state of Maharashtra. He also criticised Udhayanidhi Stalin’s remarks and speculated about the potential backlash if similar statements had been made about Islam.

“This gentleman, the deputy chief minister, said things…that it should be eradicated like a mosquito, like corona [Covid-19], like dengue, etcetera,” Mehta said. “Kindly appreciate what would happen if the chief minister of another state had said that a particular religion, like Islam, is to be eradicated.”

This forced the court to clarify that it was not dealing with the merits of the case during the hearing.

The matter has been listed for further hearing in the week starting on April 21, The Hindu reported.

The minister’s comments had triggered a nationwide controversy, with first information reports filed against him in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Last year, 262 individuals, including 14 retired High Court judges, had written a letter to the Supreme Court asking it to take suo motu action against Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks, Bar and Bench reported. A petition was also filed in the top court seeking the registration of a criminal case against him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also weighed in on the issue, claiming that the Opposition INDIA bloc wanted to destroy Sanatana Dharma.