Pinnacle Court accepts to hear PIL seeking probe into Delhi and Haridwar hate speeches by Dharam Sansad

The Top court assured senior advocate Kapil Sibal that it would take up a public interest litigation petition demanding action against those who indulged in hate speech and gave calls for armed action against the minority community at congregations in Haridwar and Delhi last month.

The PIL has been filed jointly by Anjana Prakash, a former Allahabad High Court judge and currently a senior lawyer, and journalist Qurban Ali.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioners, whether any inquiry was going on into the two events.

“We will take up the matter,” said Chief Justice of India NV Ramana

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said, “We are living in different times where slogan has changed from satyameva jayathe to shashrameva jayathe”.

Mr. Sibal also submitted, “FIRs have been filed, no arrests have been done. This is in the State of Uttarakhand. No action will be taken without the intervention of Your Lordships”.

Provocative and communal speeches were made against minority communities during a three-day "Dharam Sansad" or religious assembly held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar from December 17 to December 19. Several Hindu religious leaders, who addressed the gathering, called upon the community to take up arms against Muslims as they gave a clarion call for a ‘Hindu nation’.

"Even the programmes held, under government's nose, in Haridwar and Delhi have not only caused open provocations, but have also deliberately conspired to provoke the majority to massacre Muslims for the establishment of 'Hindu Rashtra', but unfortunately, no legal action has been taken in these two cases so far," the petition said.

The Uttarakhand Police had filed an FIR on December 23, 2021, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code against some persons including Wasim Rizvi, Sant Dharamdas Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Yati Narsinghanand, and Sagar Sindhu Maharaj.

A similar complaint has been filed with the Delhi Police for the event organised in the national capital.

The plea said no effective steps have been taken by Uttarakhand and Delhi police.