Moon Desk: In total disregard to the Supreme Court’s directive to register cases falling under the hate speech category even without a formal complaint from any quarter, the police in several states, especially ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, virtually remain a silent spectator.
The Supreme Court in April this year directed states to take suo motu action by registering FIRs on hate speeches without waiting for a complaint to be lodged by someone. A Bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna instructed that their order would apply to all hate speeches irrespective of the religious identity of the speaker.
The bench even went so far as to say that if there was any hesitation by the police to implement its order then it would be viewed as contempt of court.
A case in point is the highly inflammatory and derogatory speech delivered by a firebrand Hindutva exponent Ashu Thakur in the Yeola town of Maharashtra’s Nashik district earlier this week. The occasion was a protest against the purported role of Muslims in “Love Jihad,” media reports reaching here said. Addressing the gathering, she peddled conspiracy theories and gave a call to arms and violence.
In the viral video posted on X (formerly Twitter) platform by Hindu Watch, a research initiative which monitors reports of attacks on members of religious minorities in the country, Thakur could be seen spewing venom against Muslims, calling them Jihadis and warning them Hindus won’t remain silent in the face of alleged religious conversion of Hindu girls as part of “Love Jihad.”
“Whenever the dignity of women has come under attack, the war of Mahabharata has taken place. If Hindus are silent, it does not mean that we are meek and non-violent. We respect the Constitution and the rule of law, and we are holding a peaceful protest. Otherwise, we do not have to tell Hindus which houses they ought to enter and whom to tear apart,” she said.
Exhorting Hindu women to “become Durga, become Kali, become Chandi but never become a woman who wears the burqa,” she cautioned them that if they “abandon their religion and go to some (expletive) Jihadi, then they would be cut up in 100 pieces.”
Praising police protection provided to them, she further said: “Police give us security. Should we then submit ourselves to those butchers?”
Strongly encouraging the Hindus not to be cowards and meek when “the cats with beards and trimmed moustaches” cast their evil eyes on them. Instead, tear them apart, she said.
