Hate Crime

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/7/how-a-collective-in-indias-karnataka-is-standing-up-to-hate-ahead-of-polls  

Mujahid Nafees, the convener of the Gujarat-based Minority Coordination Committee, said that as hate spreads, so does ghettoisation. He cited the example of Juhapura, a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s biggest city, where the community became further ghettoised after the 2002 violence.

Nafees lives in Juhapura. “People prefer to stay in ghettos for their safety. It has its advantages but it pushes for a further marginalisation of Muslims,” he said.

Mamatha Yajaman, a women’s rights activist in Karnataka, said hate speech disproportionately affects women, especially from vulnerable Muslim and Dalit communities. Dalits fall at the bottom of India’s complex caste hierarchy and have faced centuries of discrimination.

And a report by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) in January said at least 84 instances of religious conflict occurred in Karnataka’s coastal districts last year, 44 of them listed under hate speech.

In February, a report by the India Hate Lab, a United States-based research group, documented about 700 hate speeches in the country in 2023.

PUCL Maharashtra urginge Strict action against BJP MLA T Raja Singh and others for the vitriolic communal propaganda FIR No. 95/2024 dated March 23, 2024. 

PUCL has also pointed out in its letter that T Raja Singh and speakers and the organisers at the rally indulged in inflammatory hate speech in flagrant violation of the order dated February 23, 2024 passed by the Bombay High Court and the undertaking submitted by T Raja Singh. However no further action has been taken against them.

PUCL has accordingly called upon the authorities to forthwith take steps to ensure that -
(1) Strict action is taken in FIR No. 95/2024 registered by Mira Road Police Station, including to arrest and prosecute the hate speech offenders accused in the crime.
(2) Sections 121-A, 153, 153-B, 504 and 505 of the IPC are added to FIR No. 95/2024 and names of other organisers, speakers responsible for the crime be included in the case.
(3) Independent, fair and timely investigation is conducted in FIR No. 95/2024 registered by Mira Road Police Station, considering the inaction displayed by the police.
(4) Immediate steps are taken against police officers who are guilty of dereliction of their duty, by failing to prevent communal hate speech at the rally on 25th February 2024, stopping the rally and taking action against the perpetrators, delaying the filing of FIR and taking further steps towards investigating and prosecuting the crime, including the arrest of the accused.
(5) The aforesaid Supreme Court orders are strictly implemented in letter and spirit, by taking suo moto action against hate speech, registering FIRs and prosecuting the offenders of hate speech for their crimes at the earliest.
(6) Communal hate speech is prevented in Maharashtra at all costs and strict action is initiated to ensure that Sakal Hindu Samaj and its speakers are not permitted to commit even a single more offence of hate speech.
(7) Police action is initiated to investigate all the incidents of communal hate speech made at all the earlier rallies and public events organized by Sakal Hindu Samaj in Maharashtra and take all measures to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.

Fighting hate speech in Indian media| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHBjlkDJEQA  Dhanya Rajendran The News Minute
Feb 18, 2024 #islamophobia #hatespeech #india
Hate speech in the media and by media persons has been on the rise for a few years. Most citizens condemn hate speech, but are not sure what action they can take about it. In this episode of ‘No Filter with Dhanya Rajendran’, we meet a group in Bengaluru that is fighting hate speech, particularly against the media. They are called Hate Speech Beda and have got censure orders against quite a few media houses for hateful and communal speech.

https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/campaign-against-hate-speech-v-state-of-karnataka/

https://en.unesco.org/5-ways-to-counter-hate-speech 

HC seeks affidavit from state on steps it takes against hate speech
Swati Deshpande / TNN / Updated: Feb 11, 2024  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hc-seeks-affidavit-from-state-on-steps-it-takes-against-hate-speech/articleshow/107592900.cms

One Shakir Tamboli had filed a plea seeking that the HC direct state govt "to take immediate action" on two FIRs and "prosecute and arrest Pawaskar, and if required transfer the probe to a court-monitored special investigation team".

On Friday, senior counsel Mihir Desai and advocate Lara Jesani, for Tamboli, submitted that police had taken no immediate steps to arrest Pawaskar despite two incidents of alleged hate speeches by him in Sangli's Vita and Islampur too.

Bombay HC has questioned state government on the adequacy of action taken on a plea seeking the arrest of BJP leader Vikram Pawaskar for his alleged role in an attack on a mosque in Satara last September. On Friday, senior counsel Mihir Desai and advocate Lara Jesani, for Shakir Tamboli, had submitted before the court that Pawaskar was also involved in two incidents of hate speeches on Jan 24 and June 2 last year in Sangli district, but no immediate steps had been taken to arrest him.

Police had done videography and registered an FIR. Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, for Pawaskar, sought to intervene, saying the plea was making demands that affect his client’s rights and that he was not made a party to the petition.
Since no written application for intervention was made, the HC did not consider the plea at this stage. The court asked the state several questions on its inaction regarding the two FIRs in Sangli. The government, through public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar, submitted one affidavit regarding the Satara case and sought time to file another on the Sangli cases and said police were following the necessary process in taking action.
The court will hear the matter next on March 5. Jesani had submitted last month too that the case on the Jan 24 incident was registered only on May 11, 2023, after several representations were made to police. She argued that police flouted guidelines mentioned in a Jan 13, 2023, Supreme Court order on steps to be taken in cases of hate speech.
In the Jan 19 order, the HC recorded Jesani’s submission which, on Aug 21, 2023, said, “One mosque was vandalised and people were lynched and one person died” and several others were injured. “According to the counsel for the petitioner, one Vikram Pawaskar had incited/ instigated Sangram Mane and others to vandalise the mosque and to fuel communal violence.
She submits that the police have arrested only Sangram Mane, in whose house the alleged conspiracy took place. However, they have not taken any steps vis–a–vis Pawaskar,” the HC order read. On Jan 19, Venegaonkar had stated before the HC that he would “speak to the superior authorities, and if required, appropriate steps would be taken to protect such persons including the petitioner.”