Savvy Thakur
Published on: 19 October 2022 at 20:11 IST
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal requested the Divisional Bench of CJI UU Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi to list the urgent hearing of the Dharam Sansad Hate Speech matter. On such request, the court asked whether there is any specific matter pertinent to be heard and submit the report of details regarding the same.
The Senior Counsel Sibal submitted that – it is necessary to frame immediate orders in order to protect people.
“….Speakers are members of political parties and Dharam Sansad. Everyday something is being said.”
Further adding that there are incidents which needed to be adjudged accordingly.
The Chief Justice of India orally remarked to give them details instead of vague statement.
The contempt case heard by bench claimed in its plea blatant and defiance manner by the DGP, Uttarakhand Police and DGP, Delhi Police to take action regarding hate speeches addressed to attendees by the prominent persons in Dharma Sansad in the State of Uttarakhand and event organized in Delhi by Hindu Yuva Vahini in NCT of Delhi.
The court directed Uttarakhand Government and NCT government to file affidavits explaining the actual state and the action taken by them.
The petition claimed that despite the hate speeches being made publicly available right away after the events, it still took the Uttarakhand police four days to file a FIR, and even then, it was only against one person, even though there were at least seven others who had called for the genocide of a minority community at the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar.
Only after persistent public protests and social media outcry, names of Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas, Sagar Sidhu Maharaj and Yati Narsinghanand Giri were added to the FIR. It stated that another FIR was registered almost 2 weeks after the incident, on 02.01.2022, against Yati Narsinghanand Giri, Sindhu Sagar, Dharamdas, Parmananda, Sadhvi Annapurna, Anand Swaroop, Ashwini Upadhyay, Suresh Chahwan, Prabodhanand Giri and Jitendra Narayan Tyagibut.
But only under Sections 153A and 295A of the IPC, whereas the nature of the hate speech was grave enough to attract 121A Sections 15 & 16 of the UAPA read with Section 120B of the IPC along with Sections 153B, 295A, 298, 505 and 506 of IPC.
When the contempt petition was filed, around January 6, 2022, the Delhi Police had not yet learned about the hateful remarks spoken during the Hindu Yuva Vahini gathering without remorse.