In a key milestone, the Supreme Court ordered the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand Police to take suo motu action against hate speech instances in its October 2022 judgement. On Friday, the Supreme Court expanded the scope of this order to all States and Union Territories. Therefore, without having to wait for a formal complaint, all States and UTs are now relishing the opportunity to take suo motu action and file FIRs against hate speech.
Only the governments of the NCTs of Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh were covered by the initial order, which was made on October 21, 2022.
Regardless of the speaker’s religion, the action should be taken. The Court cautioned that any hesitancy to follow the instructions will be seen as contempt of court.
Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna were sitting on a bench that was debating a group of petitions that asked for action to be taken in response to several hate crimes that had occurred around the nation.The Bench noted in the order that:
“Respondents shall ensure that any speech or action that violates Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, or 506 of the IPC is immediately reported, and that without waiting for a complaint to be made, suo motu action is taken to file cases and prosecute offenders in accordance with the law.
Respondents will provide their subordinates instructions so that the necessary action may be conducted as soon as possible.
We further make it clear that such action must be done regardless of the speaker’s faith in order to maintain the secular character of Bharat as intended by the Preamble.
The directive was issued in response to a request for guidance from Advocate Nizam Pasha (on behalf of the petitioner Shaheen Abdullah) on the suppression of hate speech. In his request for guidance, Mr. Pasha recommended that a nodal officer be created in each state who would be in charge of taking action on hate speech. Senior Attorney Mr. Sanjay Parikh, speaking on behalf of PUCL, stated that the group would like to submit an application to support Mr. Pasha’s recommendations.
HARDIK SHARMA, B.COM LL.B
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