NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told the Centre and the governments in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that there should not be any hate speech or incidents of violence during the proposed protests against the communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh district.
“We hope and trust that the state authorities, including police agencies will ensure there is no hate speech against any community, no damage is caused to any property, and wherever required adequate police or paramilitary forces are deployed,” a two-judge bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said, responding to apprehensions expressed over a series of protests planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Delhi and the national capital region (NCR).
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The top court constituted the bench on an urgent application filed by one Shaheen Abdullah in a pending matter of hate speech, which requested the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for an immediate listing as these protest meetings were allegedly aimed at inciting hatred and strife between communities.
The urgent request was initially mentioned before justice Aniruddha Bose who directed the petitioner to approach the CJI who was part of a Constitution bench hearing petitions of Article 370. The matter was brought before CJI DY Chandrachud who issued the necessary directions.
{{/usCountry}}The urgent request was initially mentioned before justice Aniruddha Bose who directed the petitioner to approach the CJI who was part of a Constitution bench hearing petitions of Article 370. The matter was brought before CJI DY Chandrachud who issued the necessary directions.
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The court, which heard the request at 2pm, issued notice to the government and posted the case for Friday, also told the police to make video recording of the protests in sensitive areas.
“Wherever police suspect violence, the police will make use of CCTV cameras where installed or make video recording in all sensitive areas wherever required,” the bench said, explicitly telling the authorities to preserve the CCTV footage and video recording of the events.
The bench asked additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for Centre, to communicate this order to the governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
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“Whatever the rule of law is, it has to be maintained. Let the authorities take all such action to ensure there is no law and order situation, no hate speech and no violence, particularly against women.”
Since the matter was taken up in a rush, Raju told the court that he hadn’t had time to go through the application. The judges, who were assigned the matter at short notice. asked the applicant if any hate speech had been made in these protests.
Senior advocate CU Singh, appearing for the applicant, told the court that 23 protests were planned in Delhi and hate speeches were made in some of them. He said some more meetings are to take place in the evening at sensitive areas in West Delhi.
The application filed by advocate Sumita Hazarika requested the court to prohibit the protest meetings, pleading that the slightest provocation could result in serious loss of life and damage to property and “rallies that are likely to fan communal fires and incite people to resort to violence, ought not to be permitted.”
The application produced evidence of two such rallies by the Bajrang Dal on Tuesday in Bhiwani, Haryana and Najfgarh in Delhi. There was an open call against Muslims at the Bhiwani protest and slogans inciting communal violence were raised at the Najafgarh protest.
“Such rallies that demonize communities and openly call for violence and killing of people are not limited in terms of their impact to just those areas that are presently dealing with communal tensions but will inevitably lead to communal disharmony and violence of an unfathomable scale across the country,” the application said.
The bench underlined the top court issued an order on October 21, 2022, ordering authorities of all states and police agencies not to permit any hate speech. “There cannot be any quarrel on the proposition that hate speech vitiates peaceful environment in society. Authorities are aware of it and they certainly have to take action.”
Raju told the court that the October 2022 ruling binds all states. “We are bound to comply with this court’s order. There is a presumption by the applicant that we won’t.”
CU Singh underscored that the top court had to reiterate the October 2022 order on January 13 this year after it came across fresh instances of hate speech across the country.