Hate speech: SC seeks response from govt.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the police chiefs of Delhi and Uttarakhand to respond to petitions that people accused of delivering hate speeches at a Dharam Sansad organised in Haridwar have not been arrested yet.
A Bench led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana issued notice even as petitioners contended that the declarations of communal hatred made by the speakers at Haridwar and in Delhi were unlike anything seen or heard before. They had made “open calls for the extermination of an entire religious community”, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising submitted.
“There is no law for this kind of hate speech,” Mr. Sibal said. He said the incident took a different colour from even the past instances of mob lynchings.
The senior lawyer said more of these ‘Dharam Sansads’ had been organised. The next was on January 23 at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
“If this court does not take quick steps, ‘Dharam Sansads’ would be held in Una, Kurukshetra, Dasna, Aligarh and in States where the process of election is going on. The atmosphere of the entire country will be vitiated. No arrests have taken place,” Mr. Sibal submitted.