'Spark In A Powder Keg': Delhi HC Women Lawyers Forum Condemns Inflammatory Slogans Raised In Jantar Mantar Rally, Seeks Action

The Delhi High Court Women Lawyers Forum has addressed a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court condemning the allegedly inflammatory slogans raised by Supreme Court Lawyer Ashwini Updhayaya during a rally at the Jantar Mantar on 8th August 2021. 

The letter urged the concerned authorities such as the Bar Council to take note of the incident and to initiate appropriate action immediately to restore and uphold rule of law and other salient principles embedded in the Constitution of India. The Forum also asserted that such an episode should not be dismissed lightly.  

According to reports, several slogans that amounted to hate speech against the Muslim community were raised during the said rally.

A video of the event that went viral through media indicated that a mob was chanting the following slogan throughout the rally - 

 "Jab Mulle kaate jaayenge, Tab Ram Ram Chillayenge." (When Muslims are slaughtered, they will scream Ram Ram). 

Borrowing a phrase from the decision of Rangarajan v. P. Jagjeevan Ram & Ors, the Forum called slogans and speeches organised by the Advocate akin to 'a spark in a powder keg'.

It was further elucidated that such slogans have a tendency to result in violence, either direct or structural, against the community targetted by such speech.

"These slogans whipping up hatred against the Muslims is not protected speech under the Indian Constitution, and is prima facie hate speech. The speeches made at the rally must not be confused with the right to freedom of dissenting or critical speech," the letter reads.

The Lawyers' Forum clarified that such statements were responsible for directly and explicitly invoking violence against a religious community, and the audience was charged and espousing violence as a consequence of the same. A parallel reference was also made to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, which was instigated by similar systematic hate speech against an ethnic minority. 

In the letter, they recorded that the slogans raised at the rally were violative of not just the provisions of the Constitution, but of the Indian Penal Code as well.

To support their stand that hate speech must not go unpunished, reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's recent decision in Amish Devgan v. Union of India (2021) 1 SCC 1, where it was held that "in a polity committed to pluralism, hate speech cannot conceivably contribute in any legitimate way to democracy and, in fact, repudiates the right to equality."

Furthermore, the visuals also disclosed how the rally was organised with an utter disregard to the prevalent Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority. 

The letter also advocated that people indulging in such grave criminal conduct in the heart of the national capital should not be allowed to continue with impunity, thereby urging all law-abiding citizens to raise their voice against such 'hate mongers'.

The Forum called the incident 'shocking' and conveyed its strong disapproval of the same, thereby seeking immediate appropriate action. 

Click Here To Read The Letter