Supreme Court Seeks Responses Of Uttarakhand, Delhi Govts On Contempt Plea Alleging Inaction In Dharma Sansad Hate Speech Cases

"Not issuing notice in contempt. Meanwhile, the State of Uttarakhand and GNCTD shall file affidavits explaining the factual position and actions that have been taken."

A Bench comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said that at this stage it would not issue notice in the contempt petition which was filed by Tushar Gandhi. Considering the fact the Attorney General for India, Mr. R. Venkataramani took charge of his office only a few days back, the Bench asked the matter to be listed after 4 weeks so that he has the benefit to go through the contempt petition. Advocate, Mr. Shadan Farasat stated that he would serve a copy of the contempt petition to the Advocate assisting the AG. Liberty was also granted to serve the petition on the concerned State Governments.

Mr. Farasat, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that the police of the concerned States have not taken any action pursuant to the judgment of the Apex Court in Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India, wherein guidelines laid down regarding preventive, punitive, and remedial measures with respect to mob lynching.

He referred to the substratum of the present contempt petition that deals with hate speeches made in a three day conclave, 'Dharma Sansad' held in Haridwar from 17th to 19th December and an event in Delhi held on 19th December, 2021 by members of Hindu Yuva Vahini. He emphasised that the speech was explicitly hateful and in the nature of calling for mass extermination of a minority community, amounting to 'genocidal hate speech'.

Mr. Farasat argued that the concerned State Police have not abided by the guidelines issued in Tehseen Poonawalla judgment. He added that out of 9 people who made hate speech at the above-mentioned events, only 2 have been arrested and 7 have not been proceeded against.

The petition submits that immediately after the events took place the hate speeches were made publicly available, but still the Uttarakhand police took 4 days to register the FIR, that too against only one person, while there were atleast seven others who had called for genocide of a minority community at the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar. Only after persistent public protests and social media outcry, names of Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas, Sagar Sidhu Maharaj and Yati Narsinghanand Giri were added to the FIR. Another FIR was registered almost 2 weeks after the incident, on 02.01.2022, against Yati Narsinghanand Giri, Sindhu Sagar, Dharamdas, Parmananda, Sadhvi Annapurna, Anand Swaroop, Ashwini Upadhyay, Suresh Chahwan, Prabodhanand Giri and Jitendra Narayan Tyagibut that too only under Sections 153A and 295A of the IPC, whereas the nature of the hate speech was grave enough to attract 121A 124A, Sections 15 & 16 of the UAPA read with section 120B of the IPC along with Sections 153B, 295A, 298, 505 and 506 of IPC. At the time of filing of the contempt petition, around 06.01.2022, the Delhi Police was yet to take cognisance of the hate speeches made unapologetically at the event organised by the Hindu Yuva Vahini.

[Case Title: Tushar Gandhi v. Ashok Kumar Contempt petition 41/2022 in WP 732 of 2017]

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