Haridwar ‘hate speech’: Supreme Court to hear plea for probe today

The Supreme Court had on Monday agreed to take up a PIL seeking probe into the alleged hate speech at separate events in Haridwar and Delhi on December 17 and 21, respectively.

“We will take up the matter,” Chief Justice of India NV Ramana told Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal who mentioned the plea filed by Delhi resident Qurban Ali and Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash.

The three-day ‘Dharam Sansad’ held in Haridwar saw a series of hate speeches targeting Muslims and calling for violence and assassination. Open calls for killing of Muslims to establish a Hindu Rashtra were allegedly made at the event. Speakers also reportedly targeted former prime minister Manmohan Singh and invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse.

The controversial Yati Narsinghanand, facing several FIRs in UP, called for a “war against Muslims” and urged “Hindus to take up weapons” to ensure a “Muslim didn’t become the Prime Minister in 2029.”

Former Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay was among those who attended the meeting, held from December 17 to 19 and attended by heads of various religious organisations, and presented Narsinghanand a copy of the Constitution.

After videos of the event went viral, the Haridwar police filed an FIR against five of the speakers on charges of promoting enmity between groups and outraging religious sentiments. An SIT was also formed by the state Director General of Police.

Earlier this week, another FIR was registered against one named person and several unidentified persons for allegedly making hate speeches at the Haridwar event and continuing to do so in the days that followed.

Meanwhile, the organisers of the event have announced to hold a “pratikar sabha” or protest meeting on January 16 against the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and lodging of FIRs against them following a series of alleged hate speeches delivered at the event. They also alleged FIRs were lodged against them as the Uttarakhand government was scared of “jihadis”.