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News Desk: A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against the repeated instances of hate speech across the country against Muslims. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a socio-religious organization of Muslims and Maulana Syed Mahmood Asad Madani, a religious scholar and social activist, are the petitioners.
The petition narrates various instances of derogatory remarks made against Prophet Mohammad and calls for violence made against the Muslim community by several persons across the country ranging from 2018. The petitioners contend that no action under criminal law has been initiated with respect to any such instance.
The petition cites inflammatory speeches made by Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati, priest of Dasna temple, the anti-Muslim slogans made at the Jantar Mantar rally in August this year, the campaign and protests against Friday ‘namaz’ in Gurugram where protesters disrupted congregations at designated plots by spreading cow dung and issuing threatening slogans, rallies held in Tripura in which derogatory slogans were made against the Prophet, speeches made by Suraj Pal Amu and Santhosh Thammaiah etc.
The petitioners also cite a report of Uttar Pradesh police arresting over 100 Muslims for holding a protest against the remarks of Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati. It may be noted that recently, 76 Supreme Court lawyers wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of India seeking suo motu action against the Haridwar conclave where genocidal calls were made against Muslims.
Saying that the police authorities did not take any action against the instances of anti-Muslim hate speeches, the petitioners voice concerns about law enforcement agencies “succumbing to non-state actors” and failing to protect the rights of the minorities.
The petitioners highlight that derogatory remarks and abusive speeches against Muslims have resulted in violence and even the killing of individuals. It is argued that the police authorities have failed to discharge their “duty to care” by failing to act against the anti-Muslim hate speeches.
It is said that in some cases, after public pressure, police registered FIR but against “unknown persons” though the identities of the persons making hate speeches were in public domain through numerous images and videos shared in social media.
