New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, said religious conclave in Uttarakhand’s Roorkee should not devolve into a typical hate-fest to target Muslims. Court has also sent pointed questions to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh over a similar event earlier this month.
“If the hate speech is not stopped, the [Uttarakhand] Chief Secretary will be held responsible. We will summon the Chief Secretary to the court,” the judges said.
The judge asked the state’s top bureaucrat to place on record that at the ‘Dharam Sansad’, no “untoward statement” will be made.
Ahead of the event scheduled for Wednesday they added, “Follow the Supreme Court’s guideline regarding hate speech. Take all steps necessary to stop hate speech.”
In a separate hearing, the Supreme Court asked the Himachal Pradesh government questions about an event earlier this month that featured anti-Muslim hate speeches and incitement for Hindus to resort to violence.
“The government has to stop such activity. The state government will have to let us know whether any preventive measures were taken or not,” the court said.
They asked the BJP administration why it did not act immediately against incendiary speakers.
Listing the case to be heard again on May 9 it said “The government should file an affidavit by May 7 and let us know what steps were taken to prevent such incidents.”
“These events do not happen suddenly. They don’t happen overnight. These are announced in advance. Why didn’t you act right away? There are already guidelines of the Supreme Court,” the judges added.
In the case of Uttarakhand, the justices noted the promise offered by the state government that no “untoward statement” will be made during the event, and that all procedures will be done in accordance with the court’s rulings.
However, it pulled up the Uttarakhand government lawyer when he said: “The community that [senior advocate Kapil] Sibal (appearing for the petitioner, who had asked for a ban on the event) is supporting, is also doing some things.”
“What are these arguments? This is not the way to argue in court,” Justice AM Khanwilkar told him.
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