A Special Bench of the Supreme Court did not stay “demonstrations” by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal in the Delhi-NCR region on Wednesday. The Bench, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, restricted itself to passing an “omnibus” order urging the Centre and the police to take steps to prevent instances of any violence and hate speech at the “rallies”.
“There cannot be a quarrel on the point that hate speech vitiates the atmosphere… Authorities must take precautions that no violence, no hate speech is made. The Union government should immediately get in touch with the States’ authorities concerned… Rule of law has to be maintained,” Justice Khanna observed orally.