Ensure No Hate Speech In Yati Narsinghanand's 'Dharam Sansad' : Supreme Court Tells UP Authorities, Refuses To Entertain Contempt Petition

The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 19) refused to entertain a contempt petition filed against the Uttar Pradesh administration and police for allegedly failing to take steps to prevent the 'Dharam Sansad' which is being organised between December 17 to 21 at Ghaziabad by Yati Narasinghanand, who has a history of making communal statements targeting the Muslim community.At the same time, the Court asked the Uttar Pradesh district authorities to take all precautionary measures to ensure that there are no hate speeches.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar told the Uttar Pradesh administration to ensure that the Supreme Court's directions to prevent hate speeches are complied with."Please keep a track of what is happening, recordings of the event be there, the mere fact that we are not entertaining doesn't mean there should be violations," CJI told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the State of UP.When the matter was taken, CJI Khanna told Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the petitioners, to approach the authorities. Bhushan replied that representations have been given to authorities, but no action ensued. CJI then said that the High Court could be approached.CJI expressed the view that the Supreme Court should not be the first court to be approached in such matters. He pointed out that in earlier hate speech cases also, the Court had taken a similar stand. When Bhushan said that Yati Narsinghanand was on bail in many hate speech cases, CJI said that the cancellation of bail can be sought if there are violations."We are not inclined to entertain...we reiterate the earlier orders that the district officers take all precautionary measures to ensure there is compliance...," the bench observed in the order.The petitioners, including former civil servants and activists, pointed out that the website and the advertisements for the 'Dharam Sansad' include hate speeches against the followers of Islam religion and incite violence against them. They argued that the Ghaziabad District Administration and the Uttar Pradesh police have failed to act as per the directions issued by the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against hate speeches.The petitioners include Aruna Roy, Retd IAS, Ashok Kumar Sharma, Deb Mukarji & Navrekha Sharma, Retd IFS, Syeda Hameed, Former Member planning Commission and NCW Chief and Vijayan MJ, Social researcher and Policy analyst.The 'Dharam Sansad' events held by Yati Narasinghanand in 2021 had created controversy for communal comments. He was arrested in the hate speech cases registered and was later released on bail after certain days of custody. The Supreme Court has issued notice to him in a criminal contempt case over his remarks against the judiciary.Case : Aruna Roy & Ors v Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra & Ors.| Diary no. 58833/2024

Ensure No Hate Speech In Yati Narsinghanand's 'Dharam Sansad' : Supreme Court Tells UP Authorities, Refuses To Entertain Contempt Petition

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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