Anti-Muslim hate speech: Gauhati High Court issues Assam CM notice
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Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued a notice to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in connection with a bunch of PILs, accusing him of giving "hate speech" and making "communal comments" against the 'Miya' community, PTI reported.
Notices were also issued to the state government and the DGP in connection with three different petitions on the matter.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury heard the three petitions.
The court fixed March 21 as the next date of hearing.
"The respondents have to reply to the notices before the next date. The court has not issued any other order," Advocate Santanu Borthakur, who assisted the counsels for one of the petitioners, told PTI.
One petition was filed by Assamese litterateur Hiren Gohain, former DGP Harekrishna Deka and senior journalist Paresh Malakar on February 24. The CPI and CPI(M) had also filed separate petitions on February 21, seeking to restrain the CM from making such comments.
The Supreme Court on February 16 refused to entertain petitions seeking action against Sarma over a viral video purportedly showing him taking aim and firing with a rifle at members of a particular community.
'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting the term as a gesture of defiance.