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One of the petitions stated that injury to the citizens is extremely large because hate speech and rumor mongering have the potential of provoking individuals or society to commit acts of terrorism, genocide, ethnic cleansing etc.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Central Government to submit state wise data informing which state is at which stage of compliance with the top court's earlier judgments passed to curb the issue of hate speech in the country.
A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice JB Pardiwala while hearing a batch of petitions said, "the Secretary may be directed to compile details from all the States whether the judgment in case of Poonawala and Shakti Vahani has been complied with."
The bench was hearing a batch of petitions seeking disqualification of persons from contesting elections if they are found to be engaging in hate speech.
The bench further asked the Government not to take the matter as adversarial, but just let the court know what directions have been complied with so that the bench can take the matter further.
Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora appearing for one of the petitioners submitted that there have been incidents in some states, that has been highlighted, at least those states should come forward before the court. To which, Justice Khanwilkar said that as the first step, let this information come up.
Additionally, the bench gave liberty to the petitioners to add one tab to the chart and mention all the state-wise issues.
The court has listed the matter after 6 weeks.
Earlier, the bench had opined that during elections or otherwise, the regime for hate speech should be the same.
Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India
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