New Delhi: Supreme Court directs all states to register suo moto FIR against hate speeches irrespective of religion.
The Court has passed the order that, “respondents shall ensure that immediately, as and when any speech or any action takes place which attracts offences such as Section 153A, 153B, 295A and 506 of IPC etc, without any complaint being filed suo motu action be taken to register cases and proceed against the offenders in accordance with law. We further make it clear that such action be taken irrespective of the religion of the maker of the speech, so that the secular character of Bharat as envisaged by the Preamble is preserved.”
In the midst of Karnataka Assembly election, this is surely going to effect the political scenario, heating it further up. Probably, there will be more and more case registered in State after this order until the polling day. It has also been observed that the suo moto cases may increasingly be registered against Opposition party speakers because the Police Department might face pressure from the ruling party to do so. This means, more and more cases may be filed against Congress leaders, while BJP may manage to escape.
BREAKING| Supreme Court Directs All States To Register Suo Motu FIR Against Hate Speeches Irrespective Of Religion #SupremeCourt #HateSpeeches https://t.co/a1VKaNE9kK
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) April 28, 2023
Reiterating the same, a Twitter user commented, “Who’ll decide that it’s Hate speech? It’s a huge question. Police works under d state ruling party. How come they register FIR n arrest their ministers to whom they r reporting? Result will be they will register FIR against opposition leaders. SC need to take direct action same.”
Further, Twitter users had varied responses to the order.
One of the users commented in response to the SC order, “SC should also clearly define hate speech and provide guidelines to avoid ambiguity. Currently, if someone mocks one religion, leave alone trial, even Lordships laugh it off. On the other hand people get almost abused by the Lordships just for paraphrasing something from texts.”
SC should also clearly define hate speech and provide guidelines to avoid ambiguity. Currently, if someone mocks one religion, leave alone trial, even Lordships laugh it off. On the other hand people get almost abused by the Lordships just for paraphrasing something from texts.
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) April 28, 2023
Another tweet mentioned, “The police don’t register FIR in cognizable offences information and the Hon’ble Apex Court expects the states to register Suo Moto FIR.”, While the other tweeted, “Finally the SC understands that they can’t isolate themselves from the dirty politics going on in the country since a few years.”
All in all, election fever is all set to rise further more and ‘Janta’ can definitely wait for more verbal-legal war and of course entertainment.