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The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the administrations of Raipur and Yavatmal in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra respectively to ensure no hate speech was delivered during an event organised by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and a series of rallies to be held by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader T Raja Singh.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta directed the District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police of Yavatmal and Raipur to ensure that no incitement to violence or hate speech takes place in the rallies. It said that, as per the top court's earlier direction, CCTV cameras were to be installed at the locations of the rallies to ensure that perpetrators could be identified. The apex court, though, remarked that some of the speeches delivered previously by Singh were "certainly objectionable," it said that no pre-emptive action can be taken for his future speeches. Hindu Janjagruti Samiti is organising an event on January 18 in Yavatmal, Maharashtra and BJP MLA from Telangana T Raja Singh will hold a series of rallies in Chhattisgarh from January 19 to 25, the application said. We require authorities to be cautious of the fact that no incitement to violence or hate speech can be permitted, the bench said. "No incitement to violence or hate speech can be permitted. We accordingly direct the nodal officer to take appropriate action. The DMs and SPs of Raipur and Yavatmal are to take notice of the allegations and take appropriate steps as advised and required," the bench stated in its order. The order of the apex court came after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioner Shaheen Abdulla, sought revocation of permission to hold rallies, which the bench refused, saying there are already guidelines issued on the issue by the apex court to check such incidents. The top court has been hearing a batch of pleas seeking steps to be taken against hate speech incidents. In 2018, the Supreme Court issued a slew of guidelines for the central and state governments to control and prevent the increasing number of hate crimes, including mob violence and lynching. The guidelines included fast-tracked trials, victim compensation, deterrent punishment and disciplinary action against lax law-enforcing officials. The top court had said offences such as hate crimes, cow vigilantism and lynching incidents should be nipped in the bud. It had said nodal officers were to be appointed to take note of hate crimes and register FIRs across the nation. (ANI)
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