SC asks Uttarakhand government for status report on Haridwar hate speech case probe

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Uttarakhand government to file a status report regarding the progress in the investigation into the speeches delivered at the Dharam Sansad event held in Haridwar in December 2021. A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Abhay S Oka also permitted the petitioners -- former High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash and journalist Qurban Ali -- to alert the concerned authority against the proposed Dharam Sansad event to be held in Himachal Pradesh.

It allowed the petitioners to serve on the State of Himachal Pradesh the copies of the new applications filed against the proposed event to be held in the state. The bench now posted the matter for hearing on next Friday.Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for petitioners told the bench that another such event is due to happen in Himachal Pradesh and an application has been filed in this regard. "The real problem is that the event is on Sunday and see what is happening. I don’t even want to read the kind of things that were said in public...," Sibal added.

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During the hearing, counsel appearing for the Uttarakhand government told the apex court that the police registered four FIRs and in three of them, chargesheets have been filed.In January, the top court had issued notice to Uttrakhand and Delhi police on a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the Haridwar Dharam Sansad speeches allegedly inciting violence against the minority community. That time Sibal had told the bench that Dharam Sansad is going to organise another congregation at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, and should be restrained from making hate speech there while the apex court is seized of the matter.

The apex court then allowed the petitioners to bring the case before the notice of the local authorities and against the holding of Dharam Sansad and apprise them how it is against certain penal provisions. The petition sought the arrest and trial of people who made hate speeches, inciting violence towards Muslims, at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad conclave. Sibal had even remarked that the slogan of the country seems to be changed from ‘Satyameva Jayate’ to ‘Shasatrameva Jayate’. The hate speeches were allegedly delivered between December 17 and 19, 2021, in Haridwar by Yati Narsinghanand and in Delhi by ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’.

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The plea said that the alleged hate speeches consisted of open calls for genocide of Muslims in order to achieve ethnic cleansing. "It is pertinent to note that the said speeches are not mere hate speeches but amount to an open call for the murder of an entire community. The said speeches thus, pose a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens," the plea added. It further said that it is relevant to note that no action has been taken by the Uttarakhand and Delhi Police in relation to the event held there despite the fact that open calls for genocide, that are available on the internet, were made therein.

The plea has also highlighted a video that had gone viral where a police officer was seen acknowledging his allegiance to the offenders."Not only the inaction of the Police allows delivery of hate speeches with impunity but also shows that the Police authorities are in fact hand in glove with the perpetrators of communal hate," it added.

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