SC mulls closing petitions related to hate speeches pending since 2021

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated it is likely to close most of the petitions pending since 2021 on hate speeches, in which it had directed police to suo motu register FIRs against offenders.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta reserved its order on a batch of writ petitions after the Centre, the Delhi Police and the Uttar Pradesh government submitted that there had been substantial compliance with the court’s directions. The bench observed that petitioners could pursue remedies available to them “in accordance with the law”.

However, the court decided to keep one case alive, posting for hearing in February a matter linked to a 2021 alleged hate crime against a Muslim cleric in Noida, to examine the progress of the trial.

During the hearing, advocate Ruchira Goel, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, told the court that a chargesheet had been filed in the case. She also submitted that the investigation found it was not a hate crime, but the work of a gang of robbers who targeted victims by offering them lifts in a car and duped them.

Disputing this, advocate Sharukh Alam, representing the cleric, questioned the state’s version and argued that Uttar Pradesh was unwilling to acknowledge the incident as a crime, urging the court to scrutinise the matter.

The petitions trace back to landmark directions issued by the apex court on October 21, 2022, requiring Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi to promptly register criminal cases against hate speech offenders without waiting for complaints. The court had warned that delay in acting on the “very serious issue” would invite contempt.

On April 28, 2023, the Supreme Court expanded the scope of those directions, ordering all states and Union Territories to register cases even if no complaint had been made. Hate speech, it had said, was a “serious offence capable of affecting the secular fabric of the country”, and the order was to apply irrespective of religion.

The proceedings stemmed from a plea filed by journalist Shaheen Abdullah, who later sought implementation of the 2022 order nationwide.