Courts cannot be the only hope for those fighting hate speech. Countering its effects on the ground takes more effort. With our political parties unwilling to put in that amount of effort, it's left to citizens to do so, points out Jyoti Punwani.
The Supreme Court of India has stated that the current legal framework is sufficient to address hate speech, declining to intervene and create new offences.
The Supreme Court has ruled that no cognisable offence was committed by BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma regarding alleged hate speeches during the 2020 anti-CAA protests in Delhi. The court upheld a previous decision by the Delhi High Court, stating that the speeches did not incite violence or target a specific community.
The Indian government has stated that it does not maintain centralised data on incidents of hate speech, racial slurs, harassment, and discrimination against people from the Northeast, emphasising that policing and public order are the responsibility of state governments.
The Gauhati High Court has issued a notice to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in response to Public Interest Litigations (PILs) accusing him of hate speech, with the court also issuing notices to the Centre, state government, and DGP, and setting a hearing date for April 21.
The Karnataka cabinet has approved eight draft bills, including those addressing hate speech, cattle slaughter, and social boycott, to be tabled in the upcoming legislative session.
The Supreme Court of India has stated it will not monitor every instance of hate speech, citing existing legal and institutional mechanisms.
The Karnataka Legislative Council passed a bill to curb hate speech, facing strong opposition from BJP and JD(S), who criticized it as 'draconian' and a threat to free speech. The bill proposes jail terms and fines for hate crimes and repeated offenses.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismisses speculation of a power struggle within the Congress party and addresses concerns regarding the Hate Speech Bill.
A new analysis has shown that hate speech on the social media platform 'X' spiked by almost 50 percent in the months following Elon Musk's purchase, compared to the months prior. Researchers found that the number of bot and bot-like accounts did not decline during Musk's tenure as CEO, until June 2023. The study, published in PLOS One, also revealed a heightened engagement with hate-related content, with about a 70 percent increase in the average number of 'likes' on such posts.
The Allahabad High Court has quashed the conviction of Abbas Ansari, son of Mukhtar Ansari, in a 2022 hate speech case, potentially restoring his assembly membership.
BJP leader PC George was granted bail by a court in Kottayam, Kerala in a hate speech case. George had surrendered before the court on Monday and was remanded to police custody. The High Court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea, observing that granting bail would send the wrong message to society. George was accused of delivering a hate speech against a minority community during a TV channel discussion. He was booked under sections 196(1)(a), 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act.
Abbas Ansari, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party MLA, was sentenced to two years imprisonment in a 2022 hate speech case by a special MP-MLA court on Saturday.
A court in Kottayam, Kerala, has remanded BJP leader P C George to judicial custody in a hate speech case. The Erattupetta Munsif Magistrate Court rejected George's bail application and sent him to police custody until 6 pm. George surrendered before the court after the Kerala High Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. He was accused of delivering hate speech against a minority community during a TV channel discussion. The case was based on a complaint by Muhamed Shihab, a Muslim Youth League leader, who alleged that George made remarks capable of "inciting religious hatred."
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), custodian of Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple, has banned political and hate speeches at Tirumala. The decision comes in response to recent incidents where individuals, including political leaders, made political or inflammatory statements before the media near the temple premises after Darshan, disrupting the spiritual peace. The TTD warned of legal action against violators.
An FIR was registered against him at the Golf Green Police Station in south Kolkata for allegedly promoting hate speech and hurting religious sentiments through his social media posts.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
A court in Uttar Pradesh sentenced Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan to two years in jail for making objectionable remarks against government officials during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign.
RSS leader Indresh Kumar termed the 'politics of hate' as 'corruption' and called all political parties and their leaders to refrain from indulging in hate-mongering and pitting one section of the society against the other.
The Supreme Court has urged political leaders to promote fraternity while declining to entertain a PIL seeking guidelines on political speeches, emphasizing the need for objectivity and even-handedness in addressing concerns about hate speech and constitutional values.
After perusing the transcript of the statements given in the interview, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta observed, "Prima facie, there is no hate speech. No case is made out."
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said the apex court has already defined hate speech and the question now is of implementation of its directions.
Defining hate speech is complex but the real problem in tackling them lies in the implementation and execution of law and judicial pronouncements, the Supreme Court said on Friday, days after parts of Haryana were rattled by communal violence.
The poll panel received the complaint from a native of Thiruvananthapuram, they said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the district magistrates and superintendents of police of Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Chhattisgarh's Raipur to ensure no hate speeches are made at rallies being held by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Telangana BJP legislator T Raja Singh over the next one week in their respective jurisdictions.
'Our proactive detection rate for hate speech in India is close to 97 per cent -- which means that of the hate speech content we remove, we detect 97 per cent of it proactively, even before anyone reports it.'
A court in Gujarat's Junagadh district on Wednesday granted bail to Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari and two others in connection with a 'hate speech' case registered against them.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha said "there was no palpable progress made in the investigation".
The BJP has the maximum number of such politicians.
Pakistan on Monday summoned India's Charge d'Affaires to the ministry of foreign affairs and conveyed its concern over the alleged hate speeches made at a conclave held in Haridwar recently to incite violence against the minorities.
"Everyday fringe elements are making speeches to vilify others including on TV and public forums," the bench said.
Gujarat Police probing a hate speech case on Sunday detained Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari in Mumbai, an official said.
The Kerala high court on Friday granted bail to senior politician PC George in a hate speech case registered in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and union territories(UTs) to register cases against those making hate speeches even without any complaint, terming these speeches as a 'serious offence' capable of affecting the secular fabric of the country.
Over 260 eminent citizens, including former judges and bureaucrats, have written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud urging him to take cognisance of DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's 'eradicate Sanatan Dharma' comment, calling it "hate speech".
The Supreme Court asserted on Friday that action must be taken against all those making hate speeches "this side or that side".
An Ajmer court acquitted on Tuesday all six people accused of raising the controversial 'Sar Tan Se Juda' slogan from the gates of the Moinuddin Chishti Dargah following suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma's derogatory comments against the Prophet in 2022.
Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali on Friday said if action is not taken against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for his derogatory remarks in the Lok Sabha, then he could consider quitting the membership of the House. He also said that people had not elected him to listen to "hate speeches".
The Rajya Sabha secretariat has verified the signatures of 44 of the 55 MPs who had signed a notice to bring a motion for the removal of Allahabad high court Judge Shekhar Yadav over his 'hate speech' even as Kapil Sibal and nine others were yet to verify their signatures.
Samajwadi Party MP Ajendra Singh Lodhi has been booked in Mahoba for allegedly assaulting a public official and promoting hate speech after referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as 'anti-national'. The BJP is staging protests across Uttar Pradesh in response to the remarks.
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