NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday did not stall the rallies being carried out by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, but directed the Delhi Police, and the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments to ensure that there are no law and order issues or incidents of hate speech and violence. A communal clash had broken out on Monday evening in Haryana’s Nuh district following an attack on the VHP procession.
A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SV Bhati, in a 15-minute hearing, asked the Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments to deploy police or paramilitary forces if required, install CCTV cameras and preserve video recordings in sensitive areas.
Directing the authorities to comply with its October 21, 2022 order wherein the court had directed states and Union Territories to take suo moto cognisance without waiting for a formal complaint in such instances, Justice Khanna said, “The authorities are aware of this and they have to maintain the law and order. We are not aware of what is happening and what has happened. Please ensure that there is no violence and there are no hate speeches. Deploy CCTV cameras to ensure that everything is recorded. This cannot be treated as adversarial litigation. Whatever Rule of Law is required to be maintained, should be maintained.”
The bench further said, “We hope and trust that the state governments, including police authorities, will ensure that there are no hate speeches against any community and there is no violence or damage to properties.”The order was passed by the bench while considering a plea seeking to ban rallies that are likely to fan communal fires.
Calling the situation volatile, Senior Advocate CU Singh had submitted before the bench that rallies are being held in 23 different locations. Since the first five-judge of the top court were set to hear pleas related to Article 370, Advocate Singh mentioned the plea before the bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose in the morning. Expressing doubts regarding his authority to entertain the plea without CJI’s permission, Justice Bose asked the senior counsel to mention the matter before CJI.
“There is a provision in the latest SoP, circulate an email. However urgent something is, once the mentioning is not available or mentioning is over, the email will be put up by the Registrar (Listing) and I pass immediate orders on listing,” the CJI replied.
The plea was mentioned again before the constitution bench before it rose for lunch. The CJI constituted a special bench at 2 pm. Referring to the tense situation in Nuh and Gurgaon, the plea stated that slightest provocation could result in loss of life and damage to property.
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