India, March 4 -- The Supreme Court on Monday called Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Udayanidhi Stalin's comments in September that "Sanatana Dharma should be eradicated" an abuse of the right to free speech while asking him to be careful given his position as a Tamil Nadu minister.

"You are not a layman. You are a minister...should have realised the consequences of your remarks," said a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta while hearing Stalin's petition for clubbing criminal cases registered against him over the remarks in six states.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Stalin, told the court that the comments were made at a closed-door meeting and not at a public function. "I am running away. I wi...