Curbing hate speech

The Supreme Court has acknowledged that a petitioner may be right in claiming that the ‘entire atmosphere is getting sullied’ due to hate speech against minorities, even as it has sought responses from the Uttarakhand and Delhi governments on action taken by the police against the speakers who spewed communal venom during Dharam Sansads last year. The court’s remarks come weeks after it had stated that ‘hate speech is like a layered thing, like killing someone, you can do it in multiple ways, slowly or otherwise.’ The court had not only pulled up the Centre for remaining a mute spectator to the goings-on, but also emphasised the need for stricter regulations to monitor TV debates which often degenerated into platforms for hate speech.

Speeches that demonise certain groups often inflame communal passions, posing a threat to peace as well as law and order; what’s worse, they undermine India’s secular credentials. New Delhi had to do a lot of diplomatic firefighting after the controversial statements made by a couple of BJP leaders about the Prophet triggered a backlash from Islamic nations. The onus is on the political and religious leadership to restrain the hotheads and rabble-rousers and weed them out whenever they cross the line.

The prompt registration of an FIR against the Vishva Hindu Parishad and other organisers of an event in Delhi, where a BJP MP and other speakers allegedly stoked communal tensions, conveys the stern message that nobody is above the law. Hate speech, however, is not always unleashed on minority communities. Sometimes, one minority group may use it to target another, or even direct it at the majority community. During a rally organised by the now-banned Popular Front of India in Kerala in May, a boy raised slogans that called for the killing of Hindus and Christians. The now-banned outfit did not even offer an apology for this extreme form of hate-mongering. With their credibility at stake, law enforcement agencies must crack the whip on all offenders who fan the flames, no matter which community they belong to.

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