No instances of hate speech at Delhi event, police tell Supreme Court

Delhi Police slam petitioners for moving top court directly

The Delhi Police has told the Supreme Court that there were no instances of hate speech at a Hindu Yuva Vahini event nor was there, as alleged, any "open call for genocide of Muslims in order to achieve ethnic cleansing."

The words spoken were, instead, about "empowering one's religion to prepare itself to face the evils which could endanger its existence, which is not even remotely connected to a call for genocide of any particular religion".

"None of the words spoken in any manner whatsoever overtly and explicitly described Indian Muslims as usurpers of territory, and as predators of land, livelihoods and of Hindu women, and nothing was said or done which could create an environment of paranoia amongst any religion, caste or creed," the counter-affidavit filed by the Delhi Police through Esha Pandey, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-east Delhi, submitted.

The affidavit was in reply to a petition filed by Qurban Ali, a journalist, and Anjana Prakash, a former High Court judge.

The petitioners had alleged that events in Haridwar and Delhi in December 2021 witnessed hate speeches delivered with "the apparent objective of declaring war against a significant section of the Indian citizenry." They had sought an independent, credible and impartial investigation into the alleged incidents of hate speeches against the Muslim community.

The police said the fundamental freedom of speech could not be suppressed unless it created a situation that was "pressing" or if it endangered community interests.

The anticipated danger should not be remote, conjectural or far-fetched, the police noted. The expressions in the speech made at the Delhi event were not "intrinsically dangerous to public interest."