Will strengthen 2018 guidelines to curb hate crimes in country, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Friday said it will strengthen its 2018 guidelines for dealing with mob violence hate speeches and lynching to ensure that culprits are dealt with equally irrespective of their communities for their public utterances spreading bigotryIn a significant verdict on a plea by activist Tehseen Poonawalla the top court had on July 7 2018 issued a slew of guidelines to curb hate crimes and directed states and union territories to take preventive and remedial measures like appointment of nodal officers in each district to keep a tab on such activitiesThe top court on Friday asked the Centre to collate details from states and UTs on compliance with its 2018 verdict in three weeks The court asked the central government to inform it on the next date of the hearing if the information is not received by thenA bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to file a status report giving details of the appointment of nodal officers by the states in accordance with its 2018 verdictThe bench said it has gone through the 2018 guidelines issued by the top court and in its view some more elements needed to be addedThese guidelines of 2018 are fairly elaborate ones We will be adding more to it and not subtract anything the bench said as it pointed out that CCTV cameras a deterrent factor in such crimes can be installed at vulnerable placesThe top court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking directions to curb hate speeches across states including a plea for action against Hindu outfits calling for social and economic boycott of Muslims following the recent communal violence in Haryanas Nuh and Gurugram close to DelhiThe bench said it has other measures in mind like deployment of police personnel in plain clothes who will record everything that is happening and the deputy commissioner of police shall submit these videos to the nodal officersThese nodal officers shall maintain a record and if the complaints increase to say four to five times irrespective of the community the officer can place the report before a committee and subsequently direct the SHO to register the case in accordance with lawSometimes there are various versions and cross versions and audios and videos everything needs to be taken into account the bench said adding We want peace harmony and brotherhood to prevailAlso read Maharashtra 6 of 8 Marathwada districts facing droughtlike situation says Agriculture Minister Dhananjay MundeAdditional Solicitor General KM Nataraj appearing for the Centre said the biggest problem being encountered is that whenever a hate speech is made by anybody it is circulated on social media and reaches allJustice Khanna said some preventive measures can be adopted like whenever there are fake videos in circulation the nodal officer can upload counter videos pointing to the fake onesThe bench said this court cannot go into the genuineness or authenticity of the videos as many times wrong things are said which should not have been said and they have a cascading effect in the societyIt said Whenever there is likelihood of occurrence of any hate speech or crime the police may inform the nodal officer and he would place it before a committee for suggesting remedial measures to be adoptedSensitisation of police officers also needs to be done which can be done at the academy level the bench said after a lawyer contended that the definition of hate speech is very complex and police officials are not aware of itAdvocate Nizam Pasha appearing for petitioner Shaheen Abdullah said while hearing his plea on October 21 2022 the top court had directed police officials to take suo motu cognisance of hate speeches and register cases but the order is not being followed strictlyThe bench said the law on the subject law is clear and it is only the implementation and understanding of law where the problem liesWe want effective practical steps to be taken to ensure that this courts orders are followed All 2018 directions are universal in nature and need to be complied with it said adding the court is not going to dilute themSenior advocate Sanjay Parikh appearing for Maharashtra chapter of NGO Peoples Union of Civil Liberties PUCL said they have filed certain suggestions on dealing with hate crimesThe bench asked Parikh to share them with Nataraj for consideration and also allowed states to file their suggestions if any PTI