Hatred is the common enemy of all religions: Supreme Court
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New Delhi: Hearing a petition on hate speech, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it has to decide which will come under hate speech and which will not, as not all speech is a hate speech.
The court made as insightful observation that the common enemy of all religion is hatred, and called upon people to remove hate from their minds.
Hearing a petition demanding action in cases of hate speech, a two-judge bench said it had put the freeze on proceedings against Delhi CM Kejriwal two days ago.
During election campaign in 2014 Kejriwal said "Those who believe in Khuda will not be pardoned by Khuda if they vote for the BJP".
Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said court should be cautious as there is no definition of hate speech and rather rely on ‘allied provisions of the Indian Penal Code for interpretation’.
A petition, filed on behalf of one Shaheen Abdullah, claimed that incidents of hate speech happened recently in Haryana's Mewat and another one in Pataudi 25 km away.
Thousands of Bajrang Dal activists gathered here in Mewat reportedly had taken a pledge to use ‘Trishul’ to protect their religion.
The petition argued that speeches inciting people against Muslims made at these programmes are a threat to the unity and integrity of the country.
It alleged that the Haryana police had not taken action against the speakers and organisers of these programmes.
The court said it will hear on March 21 all petitions including that of the right-wing group Hindu Front for justice seeking action against Muslims and Christians allegedly making hate speech against Hindus.
Meanwhile Justice Joseph reportedly made a noteworthy observation: ‘Our civilisation, our knowledge is eternal and we should not belittle it by indulging in hate speech... The common enemy of all religions is hatred... Remove hate from the mind and you will see the difference.’