'Dharma Sansad' hate speech case: Army veterans move SC seeking SIT probe

Three Army veterans have moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to constitute a special investigating team SIT to probe the alleged hate speeches made at Haridwar and Delhi last monthThe petitioners Major General SG Vombatkere Colonel PK Nair and Major Priyadarshi Chowdhury cited the videos circulated on social media where blatant calls for genocide against minority communities were been madeThe plea contended that one of the speeches specifically calls upon the police and the army to pick up arms against the minorities Citing the Delhi event the plea said that in the video of the event a gentleman can be seen administering an oath to a group of people to die for and kill to make India a Hindu RashtraThe seditious and divisive speeches violate not only the criminal law of the land but also strike at the core of Article 19 of the Constitution of India These speeches stained the secular fabric of the nation and also have serious potential to impact public order adversely read the pleaThe plea added It is a genuine concern that the unity cohesiveness and morale of our men and women in the armed forces and the police forces will be seriously affected if such blatant calls for violence against one or the other community in our diverse and plural society are not acted againstThe plea contended that hate speeches of such a blatantly unconstitutional and vile character have perhaps not been made so openly since preIndependence IndiaWithout mincing words the utterers of these hate speeches have abused their fundamental right to free speech and expression and used it to tear through the secular fabric of our country by threatening the life of fellow citizens of select communities Far from being stray and isolated events these speeches are a part of a series of similar speeches made in the past read the pleaOn January 12 the Supreme Court had sought a reply from the Centre and the Uttarakhand government on a petition filed by retired Patna High Court Judge Anjana Prakash and journalist Qurban Ali seeking an independent probe into the hate speech incidentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever