No Anti-Muslim Hate Speech By Suresh Chavhanke At Delhi Hindu Yuva Vahini Meet, Delhi Police Tells Supreme Court

The Delhi Police has told the Supreme Court that no anti-Muslim hate speech was made by Sudarshan News TV Chief Editor Suresh Chavhanke at the event organized by the Hindu Yuva Vahini at Delhi in December 2021.

The Police said that based on the complaints filed by several individuals against the the speech of Chavhanke at the event, it conducted an "in-depth investigation" into the video clips of the speeches, and found that no words against any particular community were used.

"In-depth investigation of the video and other material found that no hate speech was given against any community. Therefore, after investigation and evaluation of the purported video clip, it was concluded that the alleged speech contained no hate speech against a particular community," the Delhi Police stated in its counter-affidavit filed in response to a PIL seeking criminal law action against the speakers at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad and the Hindu Yuva Vahini event.

"After a deep inquiry and evaluation of the contents of the video, the police did not find any substance in the videos as per the allegations levelled by the complainants. In the video clip of the Delhi incident, there is no utterance against any particular community. Hence, after inquiry and after evaluation of the alleged video clip, it was concluded that the alleged hate speech did not disclose any hate words against a particular community as alleged", the Police affidavit stated. Therefore, the Police said that it has closed the complaints, as it was concluded that no cognizable offence was made out requiring police action.

The affidavit filed by Esha Pandey IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South East Delhi, further stated that "none of the words which were spoken during the events in any manner whatsoever overtly or expressly described Indian Muslims as usurpers of territory, and as predators of land, livelihood and of Hindu women and nothing was said which could create an environment of paranoia amongst any religion".

There is no use of such words which mean or could be interpreted as "open calls of genocide of Muslims". It is further stated that that persosn gathered at the Yuva Vahini meet "with the motive to save the ethics of their community".

The Delhi Police further said that allegations relating to Haridwar Dharam Sansad speeches are beyond its territorial jurisdiction.

Practice Tolerance of views of others

The Police has also referred to the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Cosntitution and said that it can be restricted only for purposes mentioned under Article 19(2).

"We must practice tolerance to the views of others. Intolerance is as much dangerous to democracy as to the person himself", the affidavit stated. Referring to the test of "clear and present danger" evolved by Justice Holmes to restrict speech, the Police said that the speech does not disclose any such aim to incite caste, language and communal fanaticisim.

Police questions PIL petitioners

The Delhi Police has also questioned the PIL petitioners- journalist Qurban Ali and Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash Desai (former Patna HC judge) - by saying that they have not approached the Supreme Court with "clean hands" and that they directly filed the writ petition without availing other statutory remedies. It is said that the petitioners have not filed any complaint before the police.

"The petitioners, by directly approaching this Hon'ble Court,without making use of any mechanism and legal machinery available, has misused the process of law and this practice has to be deprecated", the Police said.

The Police also refuted the allegation that they are "hand-in-glove" with the speakers at the event.

"The allegations made by the petitioners against the police authorities that police authorities are hand in glove with perpetrators of communal hate are baseless and imaginary. The case is based on videotape evidence. There is hardly any scope on the part of investigation agencies to tamper with the evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner," it said.

Yesterday, a bench led by Justice Khanwilkar had sought a status report from the State of Uttarakhand on the investigation of the cases registered over the Haridwar Dharam Sansad event. The bench also gave liberty to the petitioners to file complaints before the concerned authorities against the proposed Dharam Sansad event in Himachal Pradesh.

Case Title : Qurban Ali and another versus Union of India and others, WP(c) 24/2022