Hate speeches by leaders warrant strict action: Delhi HC

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 13

Hate speeches by elected representatives, political and religious leaders based on religion, ethnicity, caste and region bulldoze the constitutional ethos and violate constitutional provisions and, therefore, warrant stringent peremptory action on the part of central and state governments, the Delhi High Court said on Monday.

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"There have been and continue to be instances of hate speeches in different parts of the country targeted against people of specific communities, based on demographic composition. There have even been instances of demographic shifts in the aftermath of such inflammatory speeches, the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley is a prime example," Justice Chandra Dhari Singh noted, even as the court dismissed CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat’s plea seeking an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for alleged hate speeches. It refused to interfere with the trial court’s order, saying that requisite sanction had to be obtained from the competent authority for registering an FIR.

Stressing that leaders who occupied high offices must conduct themselves with utmost integrity and responsibility, Justice Singh said: “Leaders owe a responsibility towards the electorate, the society/nation as a whole and ultimately to the Constitution. Thus, it does not befit the leaders to indulge in acts or speeches that cause rifts among communities, create tensions and disrupt the social fabric." The petitioner had complained to the trial court that Thakur and Verma had sought to incite people “as a result of which three incidents of firing took place at two protest sites in Delhi”.

Further, Verma had on January 28, 2020, made incendiary comments against the anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh.

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