New Delhi, April 28.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered all state governments and UTs to act against hate mongers irrespective of their religion even if no complaints were filed regarding such incidents with the police to protect the country’s secular fabric.
Not doing so would attract contempt of court, a bench, led by Justice K.M. Joseph, said. The bench had initially in Oct, 2022, directed the states of Delhi, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to file FIRs against all those making hate speeches irrespective of their religion.
Today, it directed all states to follow the same order. Hate speech is a serious issue which affects the secular fabric of the nation, Justice Joseph said. He was sitting alongside Justice B.V. Nagarathna. It affects the dignity of the individual and goes to the heart of the republic, he said.
This will cover acts or words which fall under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different religious groups), 153B (promoting enmity in any place of worship), Section 295A (deliberately outraging religious feelings of any class of persons) or insulting anyone’s religion or religious beliefs, and Section 506 (criminal intimidation).
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that there was already a criminal process to deal with such issues. Any aggrieved person under the law can first try to file an FIR in a police station or approach the nearest magistrate for a probe, he said.
No one is justifying hate speeches but we are being flooded with petitions in the top court. Mehta complained. The government is equally concerned, he said. The order came in a plea raising the issue of hate speeches being allowed to ruin the social fabric of India.
The bench said that governments whether at the centre or the states must act to stem the tide of hate speeches lest it ruin the secular fabric of the country. We want you to act against those responsible irrespective of their religion, the bench said.
At the last hearing, the SG had flagged the issue of hate speeches being made in Kerala and dared the court to deal with it. Today too, he took umbrage to complaints of inaction on the part of the Maharashtra government in dealing with instances of hate speeches.
He also wanted West Bengal to be added to the list of states in which cases were being filed against one particular community. This prompted the bench to clarify that governments were under a duty under the Constitution to act against all hate-mongers irrespective of their religion. “Don’t bring politics into it,” the bench chided.
The bench has earlier in the Tehseen Poonawala case in 2018 laid down a structure which mandates every government to take preventive, punitive and remedial measures to deal with hate speeches but that doesn’t seem to have helped at all.
Religious discord and disharmony have only grown with normal policing and the magisterial systems not succeeding in arresting the slide.
This has only led to an increase the number of petitions being filed in the top court against hate speeches on TV, on the streets by religious figures and politicians alike.
The situation has been worsened by cross FIRs being filed by miscreants in each religion against members of the other religion.
The SG now wants the top court to rule whether it can address the issue when the normal criminal justice system hasn’t been exhausted. The top court will again address the issue on May 12, 2023. Justice Joseph retires in June.
