The Supreme Court on Wednesay directed the district magistrates at Yavatmal, Maharashtra, and Raipur, Chhattisgarh to take ‘appropriate’ steps after concerns were raised over potential hate speeches at rallies planned by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Bharatiya Janata Party legislator T Raja Singh later this week.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta while declining to stop the rallies, directed the District Magistrates to ensure that no incitement of violence or hate speech takes place in the rallies to be held by BJP MLA T Raja Singh.
Police were asked to install CCTV cameras with recording facilities at the locations if felt necessary so that perpetrators can be identified if anything untoward happened.
The Bench was hearing an interlocutory application seeking to direct the authorities to refuse permission for rallies proposed by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Bharatiya Janata Party at Yavatmal (on January 18) and Raipur (from January 19 to 25) respectively.
The application, filed in a batch of writ petitions seeking directions, included the transcripts of certain alleged speeches made by the organization and Raja Singh inciting hatred against the Muslim Community.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing on behalf of the applicant Shaheen Abdullah, urged the court to immediately intervene as T Raja, has made provocative speeches in the past and alleged that no action was taken against him.
The senior counsel argued that the lodging of first information reports (FIR) against the BJP MLA was not deterring him from continuing to deliver alleged hate speeches. Sibal said that after the event takes place we come to this court and an FIR is lodged. But nothing is done and again he continues with this kind of speech.
The Bench then issued directions to the DMs to ensure no untoward incidents happened during the rallies.
