Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) and Bajrang Dal to carry out protests and rallies in Delhi NCR over Nuh violence but directed the authorities to ensure that there is no hate speech or violence in the form of destruction to property or humans.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SV Bhati in the special hearing at 2.00 PM directed the Centre and the state governments to ensure that no untoward incidents takes place in the rallies. The court asked to deploy police or para-military forces if required and also to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras and preserving video recording in sensitive areas.
Six people, including two home guards, have died in the communal violence which broke out in Nuh after a mob tried to stop a VHP procession on July 31. As many as 116 people have been arrested so far, according to the state government.
Directing the authorities to comply with its October 21, 2022 order wherein the court had directed states and UTs to take suo moto cognisance without waiting for any formal complaint, Justice Khanna said, “The authorities are aware of this and they have to maintain law and order. We are not aware of what is happening and what has happened. Please ensure that there is no violence and there are no hate speeches. To deploy CCTV cameras to ensure that everything is recorded. This cannot be treated as adversarial litigation. Whatever rule of law is required to be maintained, is maintained.”
The order was passed by the bench while considering a plea which was filed seeking to ban rallies that are likely to fan communal fires and incite people to resort to violence.
Calling the situation volatile, Senior Advocate CU Singh had submitted before the bench that the rallies are being held in 23 different locations. Some have happened… some are yet to happen.
Since the first five judges of the top court were set to hear pleas related to Article 370, the plea was mentioned by Senior Advocate CU Singh before the bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose in the morning. “27 marches have been announced by VHP in various parts of NCR to protest against the happenings in Nuh.” Expressing doubts regarding his authority to entertain the plea without CJIs permission, he asked Senior Counsel to mention the matter before CJI.
“There is a provision in the latest SoP, to circulate an email. However urgent something is, once the mentioning is not available or the mentioning is over, the email will be put up by the Registrar (Listing) and I pass immediate orders on the listing. Just read the SoP. It has everything in it.”, CJI replied.
When the constitution bench was about to rise for lunch, the plea was mentioned by Senior Counsel again. “We have a very volatile situation. Now there are 23 protests going on,” he said. Considering taking a call regarding listing before rising for lunch, the CJI constituted a special bench at 2:00.
Referring to the tense situation in Nuh and Gurgaon, the plea stated that the slightest provocation could result in loss of life and damage to property.
“It is submitted that such rallies that demonize communities and openly call for violence and killing of people are not limited in terms of their impact to just those areas that are presently dealing with communal tensions but will inevitably lead to communal disharmony and violence of an unfathomable scale across the country. It is submitted that considering the extremely precarious situation currently prevailing in the aforementioned areas a very legitimate apprehension of communal persecution has arisen that requires the urgent attention of this Hon’ble Court,” the plea stated.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) and Bajrang Dal to carry out protests and rallies in Delhi NCR over Nuh violence but directed the authorities to ensure that there is no hate speech or violence in the form of destruction to property or humans.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SV Bhati in the special hearing at 2.00 PM directed the Centre and the state governments to ensure that no untoward incidents takes place in the rallies. The court asked to deploy police or para-military forces if required and also to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras and preserving video recording in sensitive areas.
Six people, including two home guards, have died in the communal violence which broke out in Nuh after a mob tried to stop a VHP procession on July 31. As many as 116 people have been arrested so far, according to the state government. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Directing the authorities to comply with its October 21, 2022 order wherein the court had directed states and UTs to take suo moto cognisance without waiting for any formal complaint, Justice Khanna said, “The authorities are aware of this and they have to maintain law and order. We are not aware of what is happening and what has happened. Please ensure that there is no violence and there are no hate speeches. To deploy CCTV cameras to ensure that everything is recorded. This cannot be treated as adversarial litigation. Whatever rule of law is required to be maintained, is maintained.”
The order was passed by the bench while considering a plea which was filed seeking to ban rallies that are likely to fan communal fires and incite people to resort to violence.
Calling the situation volatile, Senior Advocate CU Singh had submitted before the bench that the rallies are being held in 23 different locations. Some have happened… some are yet to happen.
Since the first five judges of the top court were set to hear pleas related to Article 370, the plea was mentioned by Senior Advocate CU Singh before the bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose in the morning. “27 marches have been announced by VHP in various parts of NCR to protest against the happenings in Nuh.” Expressing doubts regarding his authority to entertain the plea without CJIs permission, he asked Senior Counsel to mention the matter before CJI.
“There is a provision in the latest SoP, to circulate an email. However urgent something is, once the mentioning is not available or the mentioning is over, the email will be put up by the Registrar (Listing) and I pass immediate orders on the listing. Just read the SoP. It has everything in it.”, CJI replied.
When the constitution bench was about to rise for lunch, the plea was mentioned by Senior Counsel again. “We have a very volatile situation. Now there are 23 protests going on,” he said. Considering taking a call regarding listing before rising for lunch, the CJI constituted a special bench at 2:00.
Referring to the tense situation in Nuh and Gurgaon, the plea stated that the slightest provocation could result in loss of life and damage to property.
“It is submitted that such rallies that demonize communities and openly call for violence and killing of people are not limited in terms of their impact to just those areas that are presently dealing with communal tensions but will inevitably lead to communal disharmony and violence of an unfathomable scale across the country. It is submitted that considering the extremely precarious situation currently prevailing in the aforementioned areas a very legitimate apprehension of communal persecution has arisen that requires the urgent attention of this Hon’ble Court,” the plea stated.
