The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttarakhand Government and the Government of NCT of Delhi to file affidavits explaining the factual position and action taken by them related to hate speeches made during the Dharam Sansad (religious congregation) in Uttarakhand and during a similar event event organised by Hindu Yuva Vahini in Delhi.
The Bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli refused to issue notice and adjourned the matter for four weeks, after observing that Attorney General R. Venkataramani took charge of the office on October 1, 2022 and needed time to go through the contempt petition.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Shadan Farasat told the Court that he would serve a copy of the contempt petition to the Advocate assisting the AG.
The Apex Court also gave liberty to the state governments concerned, to be provided with a copy of the petition.
Citing the July 17, 2018 order of the Supreme Court in Tehseen S. Poonawalla vs. Union of India case, wherein guidelines were laid down regarding preventive, punitive, and remedial measures to be taken with respect to mob lynching, Farasat alleged that police of the concerned States (Uttarakhand and Delhi) did not take any action.
The Counsel noted that the present contempt petition dealt with hate speeches made during the three-day conclave, Dharam Sansad (religious congregation) held in Haridwar from December 17 to 19, 2021 and an event organised in Delhi held on December 19 last year by members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini.
The speeches delivered during the two events were explicitly hateful and in the nature of calling for mass extermination of a minority community, amounted to genocidal hate speech, noted Farasat.
Alleging that the concerned State Police did not abide by the SC guidelines given in the Tehseen Poonawalla verdict, he said that out of nine people who made hate speeches at these events, only two were arrested, while the remaining seven were left without being proceeded against.
As per the plea, the hate speeches were made publicly available immediately after the events. However, the Uttarakhand police took four days to register an FIR, that too against only one person, while there were at least seven others, who had called for genocide of a minority community at the Haridwar event, it added.
Farasat said the names of Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas, Sagar Sidhu Maharaj and Yati Narsinghanand Giri were added to the FIR later, after public outrage.
The lawyer pointed out that on January 2 this year, another FIR was registered against Yati Narsinghanand Giri, Sindhu Sagar, Dharamdas, Parmananda, Sadhvi Annapurna, Anand Swaroop, Ashwini Upadhyay, Suresh Chahwan, Prabodhanand Giri and Jitendra Narayan Tyagi under Sections 153A and 295A of IPC.
He said the nature of the hate speech was grave enough to attract 121A 124A, Sections 15 & 16 of the UAPA read with Section 120B of IPC along with Sections 153B, 295A, 298, 505 and 506 of IPC.
As per Farasat, this contempt petition was filed on somewhere around January 6, 2022, and the Delhi Police was yet to cognisance of the hate speeches unapologetically made at the event organised by the Hindu Yuva Vahini.
Case title: Tushar Gandhi vs Ashok Kumar Contempt petition 41/2022