Overview
- Justice S. Srimathy of the Madurai Bench on January 20 quashed the 2023 Tiruchirappalli police FIR against the BJP leader, calling the case an abuse of process.
- The court held that Udhayanidhi Stalin’s 2023 comments at a ‘Sanatan Abolition’ event amounted to hate speech after focusing on the Tamil term ‘ozhippu’ as a call for eradication.
- Malviya’s social‑media post, framed as a question and lacking any call to agitation, did not meet the ingredients of IPC sections 153, 153A, 504, or 505(1)(b), the order said.
- The judge criticized the absence of a case against the minister in Tamil Nadu despite pending matters in other states and rebuked an investigating officer for a politically coloured affidavit.
- Following the order, the BJP demanded Udhayanidhi’s removal as deputy chief minister and urged that a case be filed against him over the remarks.