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Synopsis

The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea seeking to stop a 'Mahapanchayat' being held in Uttarakhand amidst communal tension flaring in the state.

A vacation bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah observed that the issue was and administrative one and could be handled by the High Court.

"This is an administrative issue, law and order, you can move the High Court", Justice Nath said.

Court also questioned the lack of trust on the High Court's jurisdiction. "Why this distrust with the High Court? With the administration? Why are you short circuiting?", remarked Justice Amanullah.

The matter was mentioned for urgent hearing by Advocate Sharukh Alam who cited the Supreme Court's previous orders on hate speech and said, "This court has issued a direction against hate speech, a community has been asked to leave by 15th..".

When the top court, refused to hear the plea, Alam sought permission to withdraw the plea. The bench accordingly dismissed the petition as withdrawn.

A Mahapanchayat is scheduled to be held on June 15 in Uttarkashi’s Purola over alleged love-jihad cases.

Communal tension rose in Purola and some other towns of the district since an alleged attempt last month involving two men, including one from the Muslim community, to elope with a Hindu girl.

The two accused were caught by the locals and FIR was lodged against them. 

Also, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpayee and Delhi University professor Apoorvanand have written to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, urging them to take immediate action to prevent said ‘Mahapanchayat’.

The authors of the said letter also voiced their concerns about the internal displacement of Muslim families in the region, as well as the possibility of communal violence.