Khushi Bajpai
Published on: 10th October, 2022 at 20:16 IST
The Supreme Court directed the Uttarakhand government and the Government of the NCT of Delhi to file their responses, giving the factual status and the action taken by them against the commissioners of Uttarakhand Police and Delhi Police, respectively.
The contempt plea was filed against the DGP, Uttarakhand Police, and DGP Delhi Police for not taking action against the hate speeches made by popular spokespersons in Dharma Sansad in the State of Uttarakhand and an event organised by Hindu Yuva Vahini in the NCT of Delhi.
“Not issuing notice in contempt. Meanwhile, the State of Uttarakhand and GNCTD shall file affidavits explaining the factual position and actions that have been taken.”
The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said that at this point, it would not look good if the notice is issued in the contempt petition filed by Tushar Gandhi. As the newly appointed Attorney General for India, Mr. R. Venkataramani, will need some time to go through the contempt petition. Therefore, the bench ordered to list this matter after 4 weeks so that he has adequate time.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the police authorities of the concerned states have not taken any action pursuant to the directions given by the apex court in Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India, regarding preventive, punitive, and remedial measures with respect to mob lynching.
He also referred to the substratum of the present petition to support his arguments dealing with hate the speeches made in the three-day conference, ‘Dharma Sansad’ organised in Haridwar from 17th to 19th December, and another event held in Delhi on December 19th, 2021, by members of Hindu Yuva Vahini. He stressed that the speech was hateful and intended to provoke people to the extermination of a minority civic, equal to “genocide hate speech.”
The counsel further argued that the concerned State Police have also not followed the procedures directed in the Tehseen Poonawalla judgement. He also pointed out that out of 9 people who made hate speech at the above-mentioned events, only 2 have been arrested and there has been no legal action taken against the rest of 7.
The petition also submits that after the hate speeches were made publicly, it took Uttarakhand police four days to register the complaint, that too only against one person, while the other seven others were those who were actually part of genocide speeches at the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar.
The hate speeches were such to be seen as offensive under Sections 121A, 124A, Sections 15 & 16 of the UAPA read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 153B, 295A, 298, 505 & 506 of the IPC.
[Case Title: Tushar Gandhi v. Ashok Kumar Contempt petition 41/2022 in WP 732 of 2017]