New Delhi Apr 14 :- The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a status report from the Uttarakhand government on the FIRs registered in connection with the three-day “dharam sansad” that was held in Haridwar last December where hate speeches were made targeting Muslims and calling for violence against them.
The apex court’s directions followed a fresh application filed by the petitioners in the matter alleging laxity by the police in Uttarakhand and Delhi where similar speeches were made in another event.
A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and including Justice Abhay S Oka also allowed the petitioners to serve a copy of their fresh application to the standing counsel of Himachal Pradesh where, according to the plea, another “dharam sansad” is proposed to be held on Sunday.
It said the petitioners can take up the issue of the proposed event with relevant authorities in Himachal.
The fresh application was made on a pending petition by Delhi resident Qurban Ali and Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash against “hate speeches…delivered between the 17th and 19th of December, 2021” during an event in Haridwar organised by Yati Narsinghanand and another in Delhi “by an organization self-styled as Hindu Yuva Vahini…with the apparent objective of declaring war against a significant section of the Indian Citizenry”.
The Supreme Court had issued notice in the matter on January 12. Appearing for the petitioners at the time, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had told the court that more such events were being planned and there is a possibility that inflammatory speeches may be made again.
On Wednesday, the standing counsel for Uttarakhand told the bench that the state had filed four FIRs in the matter and submitted chargesheets in three of them. The state sought three weeks to file a status report.
Sibal then said that a fresh application had been filed on the proposed event in Himachal. Urging the court to issue notice to the Himachal government, Sibal said: “…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 (in the previous dharam sansad)…I don’t even have to read what is here.”
The bench did not issue a notice but allowed the petitioners to serve a copy of the application to the Himachal counsel.
Sibal referred to the January 12 order and said the court had allowed the petitioners to submit a representation to the District Collector about any such proposed event. Responding to this, the bench said in its order that it is “needless to observe that the applicant is free to give intimation to the concerned authorities in the State of Himachal Pradesh”.
The court will hear the matter again on April 22.
The main petition had said: “It is pertinent to note that the said speeches are not mere hate speeches but amount to an open call for 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.”
On January 15, the Uttarakhand police arrested Narsinghanand, the head priest of Ghaziabad’s Dasna Devi temple, who was identified as the key organiser of the Haridwar event.
He was arrested on three FIRs — two for hate speech under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295 A (outraging religious feelings) and another for “objectionable remarks” made during the speech “against women of a particular community”.
On February 8, a Haridwar court granted him bail in the hate speech case.
On April 3, another FIR was filed against Narsinghanand for delivering an “inflammatory speech” at a mahapanchayat in Delhi where he exhorted Hindus to pick up arms claiming they faced the threat of conversion and violence if a “Muslim is made prime minister”.
