SC To Hear PIL Against Radical Hindus’ Call For Genocide of Muslims In India

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Syed Khalique Ahmed

NEW DELHI—On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed seeking action against radical Hindus who made hate speeches and gave a call for genocide against Muslims at the Haridwar Dharm Sansad from December 17 to 19 and at another function in Delhi.

While radical Hindu religious leader Yati Narsinghanand organized the Dharm Sansad, the Hindu Yuva Vahini organized the Delhi event.

The appeal was filed by former BBC journalist Qurban Ali and former Judge of Patna High Court and Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, Ms. Anjana Prakash.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented the petitioners, told the court that the Haridwar police had registered the FIR, but no arrest was made.

“This is the state of Uttarakhand, and authorities will take no action without the intervention of the Supreme Court,” Sibal submitted before the court.

“We are living in different times where slogans in the country have changed from Satyamev Jayate(Truth will triumph) to Shashtramev Jayate(Weapon would triumph)”, Live Law quoted Sibal having said before the court.

The petition said that the Uttarakhand police had excluded those sections of the Indian Penal Code that call for stringent punishment against the accused persons in cases of hate speeches.

It also pointed out that the Delhi police have not even filed FIR against the accused, although a police complaint was filed with the Delhi police commissioner. The speakers at the Delhi event also gave calls for ethnic cleansing of Muslims around the same time when speakers at the Haridwar even gave mass massacre calls. 

The petition said that the police authorities had not added Sections 120B, 121A, and 153B of the Indian Penal Code that apply to hate speeches. 

While more than three weeks have passed, police have not made arrests. 

The organizers of the Haridwar event also announced that they will organize similar events at Aligarh and Kurukshetra on January 23, 2022. They use the Haridwar hate speech as promotional material about the forthcoming event at Aligarh and Kurukshetra.

The petition pointed out that police inaction shows that the authorities are hand in glove with the perpetrators. One can understand the inaction on the part of the police from a video statement of one of the accused in which he is heard saying that a police officer owed allegiance to the organizers and speakers at the event.

“The hate speeches are not mere hate speeches but amount to an open call for the murder of an entire community,” the petitioners pointed out.

“The speeches pose a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens,” the petitioners submitted.

The petition has named nine persons who gave the call for genocide against Muslims at the two events-Haridwar and Delhi. They are Yati Narsinghanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Premanand Maharaj, Sadhiv Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Swami Anand Swaroop, Ashwani Upadhyay (Supreme Court advocate and former BJP spokesperson), Suresh Chavhanke (editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV), and Swami Prabodhanand Giri.

The speeches at Haridwar and Delhi were not lone talks but a part of a series of hate lectures delivered in the past. But no effective action was taken by police anywhere in the country under provisions of Sections 153, 153A, 153B, 295A, 504, 506, 120B, 34 of IPC regarding the earlier hate speeches.

Hate speeches are a declaration of war on Muslims

The petition said that the hate speeches available on the internet are, in fact, “declaration of war on a section of the population”, and “encouragement to participate in the ‘cleansing war’.” 

Stating that the speeches violated constitutional guarantees to minorities, their religion, and culture, the petition submitted that speakers at the Delhi event declared “to turn India into a state for Hindus alone.”

The organizers of the Delhi event administered an oath to the audience. The oath said, “We all take an oath, give our word, make a resolution that until our last breath, we will make India a Hindu nation, keep it Hindu only nation.”

This, according to petition, indicated Muslims are “usurpers of territory, predators of land, livelihood and of Hindu women” in India, thus “creating paranoia and a completely manufactured feeling of being under siege amongst ordinary Hindu citizens.”

According to the petition, the oath amounted to the social and economic boycott of Muslims as well as the “physical elimination” of the minority community.

Speeches violate UN Convention against Genocide

The petition said that “open calls for genocide in direct violation of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” to which India is a signatory.

“Yati Narsinghanand said at the event that the “economic boycott (against the Muslims) will not work. No community can survive without picking up weapons. And swords won’t work. They look good only on stages. So, you need to update your weapons. More and more offspring and better weapons can protect you,” the petition said.

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