Haridwar hate speech: Supreme Court seeks status report from Uttarakhand govt

New Delhi, Apr 13: The Supreme Court has sought a status report from the Uttarakhand government in the Haridwar hate speech case.

The state government informed the court that four First Information Reports (FIR) have been filed in the case and charge sheets were filed in 3 of them.

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by journalist Qurban Ali and former Patna High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash, who have also sought a direction for an "independent, credible and impartial investigation" by an SIT into the incidents of hate speeches against the Muslim community.

The plea stated that One event was organised in Haridwar by Yati Narsinghanand and the other in Delhi by 'Hindu Yuva Vahini' allegedly "calling for genocide of members" of a community.

The plea, which specifically referred to the alleged hate speeches delivered between the "17th and 19th of December 2021 at Haridwar and Delhi", has also sought compliance of apex court's guidelines to deal with such speeches.

The Uttarakhand Police had filed an FIR on December 23 last year under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code against some persons including Sant Dharamdas Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Yati Narsinghanand and Sagar Sindhu Maharaj.

A similar complaint was filed with the Delhi Police for the second event organised in the national capital.