Seventy Six Pinnacle Court Lawyers Write to Chief Justice of India regarding nti-Muslim Hate Speeches and strongly mentioned that urgent intervention is required
Seventy six lawyers practicing at the Supreme Court, including 13 designated senior advocates, have written a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana asking him to take suo motu cognizance of hate speeches made against the Muslim community at two separate events in Delhi and Haridwar in the last 10 days. One of the events was organised by the Hindu Yuva Vahini in Delhi on December 17 and Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati in Haridwar on December 19. It has been stated in the letter that the events and speeches delivered during the same were not mere hate speeches but amounted to an open call for murder of an entire community. In this regard, the Advocates in their letter have said that the said speeches thus, posed a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens. The letter names nine individuals whose speeches at these events “consist[ed] of open calls for genocide of Muslims in order to achieve ethnic cleansing”, and calls upon CJI Ramana that they be proceeded against under Sections 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy), 121A (Conspiracy to commit offences punishable by section 121), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code. In that letter they mentioned that “It is also pointed out that the recent speeches are a part of a series of similar speeches that we have come across in the past. We have also been informed that in this regard few Petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India are also pending for consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court”. The Advocates have also said that the letter has been addressed with hope for CJI to take prompt action in his capacity as the head of the judicial wing of the State and knowing his commitment to both the independence of Judiciary as also the constitutional values that are fundamental to the functioning of a multicultural nation such as ours. In the letter sent, the advocates told the chief justice of India that calls for an “ethnic cleansing” were made at the two events. The speeches of the speakers, the advocates said, posed a “grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens”.
