NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday said anybody indulging in hate speech has to be dealt with in accordance with law and all the sides have to be treated alike.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti said the court has gone through the Tehseen Poonawalla guidelines and hoped they are being complied.
On being told that hate speech was made at Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) rally, the bench emphasised that the court is very clear, that both sides are to be treated alike.
We are very clear, be it one side or other side they have to be all treated alike. If anybody indulges in anything which we know is hate speech they will be dealt with as per law. It is something in which we have already expressed our opinion. I dont think we have to repeat, Justice Khanna said.
At the beginning of the hearing in a batch of matters connected to hate speech, the bench said they have gone through the guidelines passed in Tehseen Poonawalla judgment (2018).
Amid the presence of Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, representing the Centre, the bench said that the court hopes that they are being complied with.
A counsel, however, said that there was a rally conducted by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) where a slogan of death to Hindus was raised.
At this, advocate Nizam Pasha said hope there is no side to it and all of us are on the same side.
The counsel, who made claims of hate speech at the IUML rally, said Pasha is not bringing full facts before the apex court. After hearing brief submissions, the bench put the matter for hearing on next Friday.
The court was hearing a plea seeking action against calls made by several groups for boycott of Muslims following Nuh-Gurugram communal violence in Haryana. The application has been filed by journalist Shaheen Abdullah, who was represented by Pasha.
On August 11, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to constitute a committee to look into the cases of hate speech saying that there has to be harmony and comity between communities, and all communities are responsible and nobody can accept hate speech.
The top court asked Centres counsel to seek instructions and inform it about the committee by August 18. The bench noted that coming to courts is not a solution, while emphasizing on an in-built mechanism to deal with the problem of 'hate speech'.
