Supreme Court notices to Central, Delhi and Uttarakhand governments on hate speeches

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, and the governments of Delhi and Uttarakhand on a petition seeking action against those who allegedly made hate speeches at recent 'dharam sansads' in Haridwar and Delhi.
"Issue notice to the respondents," a top court bench led by CJI NV Ramana said in a short order. Notices in this case will go to the Union home ministry, the Delhi Police commissioner and the Uttarakhand DGP.

The bench also asked the petitioners - journalist Qurban Ali and former Patna High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash - to approach local authorities for stopping such 'dharam sansads' in future.

The self-styled sansads, which are giving open calls for extermination of a minority community, have created a storm in the election season. Many more such sansads have been proposed in Aligarh, Una and Kurukshetra.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal arguing for the petitioners sought court's intervention to check these hate speeches. He sought an early hearing on the grounds that more such sansads were being proposed. "This is contrary to everything that this Republic stands for, our constitutional ethos and values," Sibal said.

Hate speeches are being delivered every day and no quick steps have been taken to prevent such sansads or hate speeches, he said, adding: "That too when elections are round the corner."

The CJI-led bench first demanded to know why it should hear the petition when similar petitions filed earlier were still pending. Then the CJI said that there were existing laws, IPC provisions and earlier rulings which could address the problem.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising said on behalf of Tushar Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, that the court had laid down guidelines in another case to prevent cow-related mob lynchings. As per that ruling, the central government had to appoint nodal officers in all sensitive areas. That hadn't been done, she said.

Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj said that there were petitions related to the hate programmes made on Sudarshan TV before another bench led by DY Chandrachud. But nothing related to dharam sansads, Sibal said.

The CJI then indicated that he would first examine the response of the states before seeking an explanation from the Centre. Eventually, the bench, which also included Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, issued notices to all three respondents in the case.

The case will now come up after 10 days.