Top court rejects petition against Dharam Sansad

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a PIL filed by activist Aruna Roy, former NCW member Syeda Hameed and others against a ‘Dharam Sansad’ organised at Ghaziabad from December 17-21 by Yati Narsinghanand, who has faced allegations of making communal statements against Muslims.

“There are other matters which are equally serious. We will be flooded if we entertain this. You have to approach the High Court. We cannot entertain,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna said.

The SC should not be the first court to be approached in such matters, it added. The Bench, however, asked the Uttar Pradesh authorities to monitor the event and ensure that it was video recorded.

“Please keep a track of what is happening, recordings of the event should be there, the mere fact that we are not entertaining doesn’t mean there should be violations,” CJI Khanna told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, who represented Uttar Pradesh.

On behalf of the petitioners, advocate Prashant Bhushan pointed out that Narsinghanand was granted bail on the condition that he would not indulge in hate speech.

“How can you approach the Supreme Court, then. You can move the high court for cancellation of bail. We leave it open for the petitioner to avail appropriate remedies. We also reiterated the earlier order to maintain law and order and all officers should ensure compliance of law,” the Bench said.