WPI President Moves Court For Arrest of Sudarshan TV Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke

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Welfare Party of India president Dr. SQR Ilyas.

Syed Khalique Ahmed

NEW DELHI— Metropolitan Magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh of the Saket Courts on Thursday issued a notice to the Delhi police, asking it to submit an action taken report connected with a hate speech delivered by Sudarshan News channel Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke on December 19, 2021.

The court issued the notice on a petition filed by Welfare Party of India (WPI) president Dr. Qasim Rasool Ilyas. The court has fixed March 15 as the next date of hearing. New Delhi-headquartered Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has extended legal assistance to Dr. Ilyas.

In his petition, Dr. Ilyas submitted that the statements in Chavhanke’s speech are “communal, divisive, incendiary and amount to hate speeches.” 

He said that his statements tend to “directly instigate violence” and “stoke tension” among people belonging to different communities.

Chavhanke had made the speeches at a programme hosted by the Hindu Yuva Vahini in Govindpuri. 

Dr. Ilyas, on December 25, filed a complaint in the Govindpuri Police Station under Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, and 504, 505(2) and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, seeking registration of an FIR and arrest of Suresh Chavhanke. 

However, the police took no concrete action. Instead, the police told him that it had started an investigation. But Dr. Ilyas says no preliminary inquiry was required because his hate speeches are available in video form on social media, and he must be arrested immediately. 

On December 31, he made an online representation to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, southeast District, at Sarita Vihar, demanding action on the hate speech to maintain public peace and tranquility.

In his complaint, Dr. Ilyas said that “hate speeches are a serious threat to the inclusivity, diversity and social cohesion of our nation, and the venomous ideas of hatemongers are slowly killing our vibrant society.”

As he felt that the police were taking no appropriate action, he approached the Saket District court, seeking directions for FIR registration against Chavhanke and his arrest.

WPI president submitted the details of the statements of Chavhanke’s speech with his petition.

DR. Ilyas said that “the accused administered an oath to a group of people to “die for, and kill” to make India a “Hindu Rashtra” or a “Hindu Nation.”

Chavhanke shared the video with his own Twitter handle with the title “Mere Saath Hindu Rashtra ki Shapat lete hue Hindu Yuva Vahini ke sher aur Sherniyaan”(Lions and lionesses of Hindu Yuva Vahini taking oath for a Hindu Rashtra with me). Chavhanke is said to have 4,83,000 followers on his Twitter handle.

The oath was reproduced in text format in the petition. The oath as per petition said, “Hum sab Shapat lete hain, vachan detein hain, Sankalp lete hain, apne antim praan ke shan tak is desh ko hindu rashtra banaane ke liye, banaye rakhne ke liye, aage badhaane ke liye ladenge, marenge zaroorat padi toh maarenge, kisi ke bhi balidaan ke liye, kisi bhi keemat par shan bhi peeche nahi hatenge. Humara ye Sankalp purakarne ke liye humare gurudev, humari kuldevta, humari graamdevta, bharat maata, humko shakti de, jai dev, jai dev, Vijay dev Vijay dev. (We all take an oath, we solemnly promise, take a pledge, that we will fight, and die, and if the need arises, we will kill, to make this nation a Hindu Rashtra, till our last breath. We will sacrifice anyone and will not retreat from our aim even for a moment. Let our Gurudev, Kuldevta, Gramdevta, Bharat Mata give us the power to complete this pledge. Jai Dev, Jai Dev, Vijay Dev, Vijay Dev).

Stating that the audience repeated these statements, the petition said that “this statement is a clear threat to use force and violence against the minorities to make India a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation).”

“The deliberate and malicious intention behind such words/actions is to insult the religion or religious beliefs and further to instigate violence against the religious minorities and disrupt communal harmony and peace,” the petition pointed out.

The petition pointed out that this was all done “with a deliberate and malicious intention to promote enmity, hatred, and ill-will against the Muslim community”. It further said, “Chaar chaar biwiyaan aur chawalis bachhe karke, Hindustan par ghazwa-e-hind karne par koi kasar nahi chhodi hai”(By marrying four wives and producing 44 children, {Muslims} have launched Ghazwa-e-Hind against India).

According to the petition, Chavhanke further said that “ye Hindustan hinduon ka hai aur humare baap dada ne iske liye balidaan diye hain aur agar kisi aur ke baap dada ne thoadi bohot madad kar bhi di toh uske liye humne unko Pakistan dediya”(India belongs to Hindus. Our ancestors have sacrificed for it, and if {Muslims} made any sacrifice for it at all, then we have given them Pakistan).

Dr. Ilyas submitted that the Sudarshan TV editor provoked the audience present at the event to demolish the mosques (religious place of Muslims) by raising slogans of “Kashi-Mathura abhi baaki hai”, meaning that mosques in Banaras and Mathura are also to be claimed.

The petition has quoted Chavhanke, saying that “Shivaaji Maharaj ki prerna se hi 5 April 1770 ko (bohot kam logon ko pata hai, main Mathura gaya tha wahaan bhi logon ko nahi pata hai ) Mallal Rao Holkar ke Yoddhaaon ne Nizam ko haraya tha, Mathura ko punah mukt kiya tha, masjid toad kar punah madir banaya tha. Lekin hota ye hai ki hum log jaag jaate hain aur Punh Sojaate hain. Jaagte hain toh punh pratishodh lete hain aur phir sojaate hain aur Punh Dushman Haawi hojata hai. Toh Mujhe Lagta ki humne ye nirney lena chahiye ki hum kabhi soyenge nahi” (Very few people know that soldiers of Mallal Rao Holkar had defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad with Shivaji Maharaj’s inspirations; liberated Mathura and built a temple after demolishing a mosque. But it always happens that we go into hibernation after waking up from our dormant state. We are able to take revenge after we wake up. When we become inactive, the enemy dominates again. So, I feel that we should decide that we will never become idle and lethargic). 

Dr. Ilyas has also tagged Chavhanke’s communally provocative statements and speeches at other events in Delhi. For example, he has atatched his tweet titled ““Ek hi sapna, Hindu Rashtra” (The only dream is the Hindu Nation). 

The petition said that Chavhanke, on October 11, 2021, addressed an event in Rohini in Delhi under the title of “Hindu Rashtra ki Hunkar, Hindu Gaurav Samman Samaroh”. He addressed the audience as “sainiks”(soldiers) in the program. 

While giving a call for arming the “sainiks,” Chavhanke said, “Bhai finally antimta hindu rashtra ka lakshya ka matlab kya hota hai? Yuddh me aap utarte hain na, ladai ladte hain. Toh kewal dhaal hoti hai kya, dhal ke saath sainik ke pass ke pass kya hona chahiye?  (Brothers, what do you understand by the word Hindu Rashtra? You go to war, and you fight. Do you carry a shield only in the war? What other things should a soldier have along with a shield? He should also take a sword. What do you say? We Hindus are fighting all the battles with a shield only. There is no sword in our hands. There is only a shield in our hands.)  

The petition pointed out that Chavhanke also organized a felicitation ceremony for the accused of the Jantar Mantar anti-Muslim sloganeering case. In the felicitation programme, Chavhanke admitted that two of the accused of the Jantar Mantar event – Deepak Singh Hindu and Vinod Sharma – have been part of many of his events.

The petition pointed out how the Supreme Court in 2020 had stayed the telecast of a programme titled “UPSC Jihad” by his channel. The petition alleged that Chavhanke’s TV channel had described Jamia students as “Jamia ke Jihadi” after 30 of the students from a coaching academy run by Jamia Millia Islamia cleared UPSC examinations.

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