No one should indulge in hate speech, says SC

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking its direction against hate speeches targeting the Brahmin community, which the petitioner had alleged was 'Brahmophobia'.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said there should be no hate speeches against any community but declined to entertain the plea. "We don't want hate speech against any community. It depends on education, intellectual development, tolerance and patience. Once everyone follows the fraternity, automatically there will be no hate speech," the bench said.

Thereafter, petitioner, Mahalingam Balaji, decided to withdraw the plea, which the court allowed.

During the hearing, Justice Nagarathna also questioned why a particular community should seek 'protection against hate speech' against just themselves and not for others. No one should indulge in hate speech, and the petitioner can take up the specific instances before the appropriate forums, but not the judiciary, the judge said.

When Balaji said the judiciary was being targeted on social media, the bench said it was not concerned about false attacks on the judiciary.

In his plea, Balaji had sought directions to the central and state govts to recognise hate speech targeting the Brahmin community as a punishable form of caste-based discrimination and to take prompt legal action against such instances. He also sought a detailed probe into alleged "coordinated domestic or foreign campaigns" aimed at inciting caste conflict by promoting targeted hatred against Brahmins.

"Govt must constitute a high-level truth and justice commission to investigate and acknowledge the 1948 Maharashtra Brahmin Genocide and the 1990 Kashmiri Pandit Genocide, and recommend measures for rehabilitative, economic, and educational support to survivors and their descendants," Balaji had said in his petition. He had also sought directions to disqualify any public servant or constitutional office holder found indulging in caste-based hate speech against Brahmins.
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