BREAKING : Supreme Court Agrees To Hear PIL Seeking Action Against Haridwar Dharm Sansad Anti-Muslim Hate Speeches

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently hear a PIL seeking criminal action with respect to the Haridwar Dharm Sansad conclave where hate speeches and genocidal calls against Muslims were made.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice of India for urgent listing."We're living in different times where slogans in the country have changed from Satyamev Jayate to Shashtramev Jayate", Sibal said."We'll look into it. Is already some inquiry going on?", CJI asked.Sibal submitted that although an FIR has been registered, no arrests have been made."FIRs have been filed, no arrests have been done. This is in the State of Uttarakhand. Without the intervention of your lordships no action will be taken", Sibal urged.CJI agreed to take up the matter. The petitioners are a journalist, Mr. Qurban Ali and former Judge of Patna High Court and Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, Ms. Anjana Prakash. They have approached the Apex Court seeking its urgent intervention in the matter pertaining to the hate speeches delivered between 17th and 19th December, 2021 in separate two events - one organised in Haridwar by one Yati Narsinghanand and the other in Delhi by 'Hindu Yuva Vahini'. The Petition drawn by Advocate, Ms. Rashmi Singh and filed by, Advocate, Ms. Sumita Hazarika, seeks 'independent, credible and impartial investigation' into the incidents of hate speeches against the Muslim community by a SIT. It has been further prayed for the Apex Court to issue directions to the police authorities to comply with the guidelines laid down by it in Tehseen Poonawalla v. Union of India (2018) 9 SCC 501 and to consequently define the contours of 'duty of care in investigation' to be undertaken by the police authorities. The Petition has been filed against the Ministry of Home Affairs, Commissioner of Police, Delhi and the Direction General of Police, Uttarakhand. Background Between 17th and 19th December, 2021 at two separate events organised in Delhi and Haridwar, hate speeches were made by a group of people calling for genocide of members of the Muslim community. The Petitioners have identified the perpetrators as - Yati Narsinghanand GiriSagar Sindhu MaharajDharamdas MaharajPremanand MaharajSadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun PandeySwami Anand SwaroopAshwani UpadhyaySuresh ChavhankeSwami Prabodhanand Giri The Uttarakhand Police had filed an FIR on 23.12.20221 under Section 153A and 295A of the IPC against 5 people, namely, Wasim Rizvi, Sant Dharamdas Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Yati Narsinghanand and Sagar Sindhu Maharaj. With respect to the hate speech given by Suresh Chavhanke, CMD of Sudarshan News and others at the event organised in Delhi, a complaint was filed with the Commissioner of Police, Delhi on 27.12.2021. Subsequently, a video went viral wherein one of the speakers at the Haridwar event flaunted a police officer's allegiance to the organisers. On a video dated 31.12.2021, the organisers had announced their future plans to hold similar events in Aligarh and Kurukshetra in January, 2022. They also circulated the concerned videos of the hate speeches as 'promotional videos'. On 03.01.2022, the Uttarakhand Police lodged an FIR under Section 153A and 298 of the IPC against Wasim Rizvi, Yati Narsinghanand, Sant Dharamdas Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Swami Anand Swaroop, Ashwani Upadhyay, Swami Prabodhanand Giri, Dharamdas Maharaj, Premanand Maharaj amongst others. Grounds For Challenge: Inadequate and delayed action by Police AuthoritiesThe Petitioners have averred that no effective steps have been taken by the police. The FIRs lodged by the Uttarakhand Police have conveniently excluded offences punishable under Section 120B, 121A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code. Till date no FIR has been lodged by the Delhi Police despite calls for ethnic cleansing at the event organised in Delhi. The Petitioners have further alleged that the inaction on the part of the police only fosters the belief that the authorities are hand in glove with the perpetrators. Reach, mass appeal and dangerous consequencesIt has been argued that the vile speeches would pass the 'spark in a powder keg' test as the Supreme Court had held in Ragarajan v. P. Jagjeevan Ram and Ors. (1989) 2 SCC 574 - "...The anticipated danger should not be remote, conjectural or far fetched. It should have proximate and direct nexus with the expression. The expression of thought should be intrinsically dangerous to the public interest. In other words, the expression should be inseparably locked up with the action contemplated like the equivalent of a "spark in a powder keg"."It has been further highlighted by the Petitioners that such detestable content being widely available on the internet would have fatal consequences. Open call for genocide in...

BREAKING : Supreme Court Agrees To Hear PIL Seeking Action Against Haridwar Dharm Sansad Anti-Muslim Hate Speeches

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

Tags