During a hearing on Friday, 4 August, the Supreme Court issued a call to action to all stakeholders, urging them to work together in finding a lasting solution to address the issue of hate speech.
What SC said: Justice Sanjiv Khanna proposed, "Why don't you all sit down together and find a solution? One difficulty is the complexity of defining 'hate speech' and understanding it in the context of free speech. Numerous judgments have already provided definitions, but the real problem lies in implementation and execution. This is what needs to be addressed. Sensitizing the police forces is crucial in resolving these matters."
The case: These observations were made during the hearing of a plea against the rallies and protest marches organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal in various parts of the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) following communal violence in Haryana's Nuh and Gurugram.
But, hearing adjourned...The division bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti adjourned the hearing but took the opportunity to encourage all parties involved to adopt a constructive approach and find a solution collaboratively.
Previously, on 2 August, the top court had passed a series of directions to the state governments including police authorities, in connection with the application filed before it seeking to stop the rallies.
The directions, according to LiveLaw, were:
No hate speech against any community
No violence or damage to property
Where required, deployment of adequate police force and paramilitary force
CCTV cameras to be taken use of, video recording to be done in all sensitive areas, wherever required. Footage and videos to be preserved
"We have to ensure that rule of law is maintained", Justice Khanna had said.
(With inputs from LiveLaw)