Hate speech harmful for India, says HC, rejects plea against BJP leaders

NEW DELHI: Hate speeches based on religion, caste, region or ethnicity by elected representatives, and political and religious leaders violate fundamental rights and harm India’s constitutional ethos, the Delhi high court said on Monday, asking for stringent and peremptory action against such utterances.

Statutory provisions and penal law provide sufficient remedy to curb the menace of hate speeches, and the executive as well as civil society have to perform their roles in enforcing the already existing legal regime, justice Chandra Dhari Singh said.

Justice Singh made these observations while dismissing a plea by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders Brinda Karat and KM

Tiwari that challenged a trial court’s refusal to direct the registration of a first information report against Union minister Anurag Thakur and Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian Pravesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches concerning the protest against the new citizenship law at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh in 2020.

“Effective regulation of hate speeches at all levels is required and all the law enforcing agencies must ensure that the existing law is not rendered a dead letter,” the court said. “Enforcement of the provisions is required being in consonance with the proposition salus reipublicae suprema lex (safety of the state is the supreme law).”

Whatever action is performed by a leader, common men follow in his footsteps, and whatever standards he sets by his acts are pursued by his subjects, the judge said, quoting the Hindu holy text of Bhagvad Gita.

“Leaders elected in a democracy like that of India owe their responsibility not only towards the electorate in their own constituency, but also towards the society and nation as a whole, and ultimately to the Constitution,” he said.

Despite these observations, the court declined relief to the petitioners, saying appropriate sanction of government is required for investigation. There is alternative and efficacious remedy available for the petitioners, he said.

Hate speeches by leaders militate against the concept of fraternity, the court said. People who occupy high offices must conduct themselves with utmost integrity and responsibility, as they are the role model for ordinary citizens, justice Singh said.

“It is they who are the role models for the ordinary masses. Thus, it does not befit or behove the leaders to indulge in acts or speeches that cause rifts amongst communities, create tensions, and disrupt the social fabric in the society,” the judge said in a 66-page order.

Hate speeches incite violence and feelings of resentment against members of specific communities, causing fear and feeling of insecurity, the judge said. Such utterances marginalize individuals based on their membership in a group by using expressions that expose the group to hatred, he said.

Plea for FIR rejected

In his order on the rejection of FIR against the two senior BJP leaders, justice Singh said sanction of government is required for investigation under Section 196 of the CRPC.

The judge said that the legislative intent behind the provision was crystal clear that the offences mentioned under section 196, including that of hate speech, should not be ordered to be investigated in a routine manner, since it could lead to a situation where thousands of FIRS would be registered to settle scores against political rivals.

“This would not only be undesirable and an abuse of process but would also result in choking the already overburdened criminal justice machinery… Thus, the legislature, being wary of such a situation, in its wisdom has incorporated this two-tier mechanism, firstly, in the form of a sanction and secondly, in the form of a preliminary investigation before granting any sanction,” it observed.

The trial court had, on August 26, 2021, dismissed the petitioners’ plea seeking registration of FIR on the ground that it was not sustainable as the requisite sanction from the competent authority, the central government, was not obtained.

People who occupy high offices must conduct themselves with utmost integrity.

Delhi high court