'Need Effective Practical Steps Against Hate Speech': Supreme Court Seeks Responses From States On Appointment Of Nodal Officers

The Supreme Court on Friday advocated for 'practical and effective' steps to deal with the problem of hate speech so that its earlier decisions are followed both in letter and in spirit. Accordingly, it sought responses from the state government on the status of their compliance with the Tehseen Poonawalla guideline requiring the establishment of district-level nodal officers.A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti was hearing a batch of petitions seeking action against hate speeches, including a recently filed plea seeking action against calls made by several groups for the social and economic boycott of Muslims following the outbreak of communal clashes in Haryana's Nuh and Gurugram.Advocate Nizam Pasha told the bench today that the problem lay not in a lack of guidelines, but their implementation. "Guidelines are in place. There's an order directing the police to take suo motu cognizance of instances of hate speech. The only thing missing is the political will to implement the guidelines. What does one do as a petitioner when this court's order is flouted?" the counsel argued.Despite Pasha's passionate argument, the bench maintained that instead of pinning blame, a constructive approach should be adopted. Justice Khanna said, "This way won't solve the problem, because the other side will deny that. We want effective practical steps to be taken to ensure that this court's order is followed."The most important thing that these proceedings have resulted in, Pasha explained, was a 'continuing mandamus' with the Supreme Court being 'seized' of the problem of hate speech. In response to this, Justice Khanna assured that the petitions would not be closed. "We are not disposing of the matter," the judge said, "We are not diluting what has been said, at all. We are going to reproduce Tehseen Poonawalla directions which are fairly elaborate. We are adding to it, not subtracting anything."Earlier this month, after stressing the need for stakeholders to collaborate to find an enduring out-of-court solution to the problem of hate speech on an earlier occasion, the court suggested a plan of its own: a committee formed by the district police chief that would assess both the content and veracity of hate speech complaints and issue appropriate directions to the investigating officer or the chief of the jurisdictional police station. This committee would meet within specified timelines when they are apprised of any instance of hate speech and also periodically review the progress in all ongoing cases according to the suggestions floated by the bench.Meanwhile, the court also permitted the aggrieved petitioners to concurrently approach the nodal police officers appointed in terms of the 2018 Tehseen Poonawalla judgment in which it had issued guidelines to prevent mob lynching.During Friday's hearing, the bench proposed a number of other suggestions. It said that increasing the area under CCTV surveillance, with a focus on areas where the need is felt, would act as a 'deterrent' - "It has to be ensured that CCTV cameras are working wherever they are already installed. Not only this, additional CCTV cameras should be added, wherever the district magistrate or the police commissioner feels is required. This would have to be decided at the DCP-level in consultation with the nodal officer. This would be by itself a big deterrent."Apart from this, the court suggested the deployment of plainclothes police officers in areas or at events where provocative speeches are likely to be made, and for nodal officers to maintain a record of all videos emerging from violence-hit areas. When the number of complaints exceeds a certain threshold, the committee constituted by the district police chief would be required to examine the material and test its authenticity. Police sensitisation, as the court had earlier indicated, was crucial and needed to be done by police academies in a 'big way'. Not only this, the court also said that measures to counteract both fake and doctored videos and hateful content would have to be taken by the committee - "Ultimately, we want peace and harmony. There has to be brotherhood...We cannot deal with these, but if there's such a committee in place, then, it could step in. Countermeasures are also equally important. Pointing out that a video is false, or doctored. Or even when it has not been doctored, uploading videos saying that what has been depicted or said is not correct or acceptable."On being informed that nodal officers in terms of the Tehseen Poonawalla judgment had not been appointed by all states or had been appointed in only a few districts, Justice Khanna asked Additional Solicitor-General KM Nataraj to take the initiative of collecting the responses of the state governments with respect to the status of their compliance. Nataraj agreed. The law officer also said, "I will prepare broad guidelines on the basis of which something further can be developed."Should we pass an order today,...

'Need Effective Practical Steps Against Hate Speech': Supreme Court Seeks Responses From States On Appointment Of Nodal Officers

Awstika Das

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