Hyderabad: The Supreme Court of India on Friday heard a batch of petitions seeking action against hate speeches across India. During the hearing, the counsel for Suresh Chavanke, Eidtor in Chief of Sudarshan TV channel, Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain argued that when the action is taken against his client, why no action has been taken against Zakir Naik, the preacher who has reportedly fled the country, and Akbaruddin Owaisi, MIM MLA from Chandrayangutta, Hyderabad?
The petitions filed against Sudarshan TV for vilifying Muslims for allegedly running a campaign under ‘UPSC Jihad’.
Petitions filed against ‘Corona jihad’ campaign run by Hindutva elements in the wake of Tablighi Jamaat issue during the pandemic also came up for hearing.
A bench comprising Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna heard a batch of petitions seeking action against hate speeches. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain contended that MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi has been involved in series of hate speeches in the Telangana State.
He cited an speech of the legislator in which he made an alleged controversial remark in 2013. In that speech, the legislator had reportedly said that if the police is removed for 15 minutes, “We (Muslims) of 25 crore will finish 100 crore Hindus.”
The advocate alleged that Akbaruddin Owaisi is a ‘Habitual offender’ and sought cases that have been closed against him be re-opened. The Apex court has power under article 142 of Indian constitution to reopen the cases, he added.
The petitions filed against Dharam Sansad meetings where alleged anti-Muslim statements were made and such other petitions seeking broad guidelines to curb hate speech.
Advocate Shankar Jain also sought permission to file latest interlocutory application (I.A.) with the recent instances are mentioned. Jain then withdrew the application with liberty to file a fresh application citing recent instances.
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