The Supreme Court on January 16 directed the district magistrate and superintendent of police of Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Chhattisgarh's Raipur to ensure no hate speeches are made during rallies of a Hindu outfit and BJP legislator T. Raja Singh scheduled to be held in the next one week in their jurisdiction.
A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta refused to stay the scheduled rallies, saying the parties against whom the allegations of hate speeches are made are not before the court.
It, however, directed the district magistrates and SPs of both the districts to ensure CCTV cameras at the venue of rallies with recording facilities, so that perpetrators of hate speeches can be identified, if anything happens.
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The Bench passed the order on an application moved in the pending plea of Shaheen Abdulla in which it was alleged that several instances of hate speeches have been reported. It said that in Yavatmal district, a rally of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti is scheduled on January 18 and there are apprehension of hate speeches.
Similarly, the application said that in Raipur district rallies of Raja Singh are scheduled from January 19-25 and there are apprehension of hate speeches. The petitioner sought revocation of permission to hold rallies, which the Bench refused, saying there are already guidelines issued on the issue by this court to check such incidents.
