Hate Crime
UNITED NATIONS STRATEGY AND PLAN OF ACTION ON HATE SPEECH https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/UN%20Strategy%20and%20Plan%20of%20Action%20on%20Hate%20Speech%2018%20June%20SYNOPSIS.pdf
Rather than prohibiting hate speech as such, international law prohibits the incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence (referred to here as ‘incitement’). Incitement is a very dangerous form of speech, because it explicitly and deliberately aims at triggering discrimination, hostility and violence, which may also lead to or include terrorism or atrocity crimes. Hate speech that does not reach the threshold of incitement is not something that international law requires States to prohibit.
Convening relevant actors When relevant to the context, the UN should support convening of key actors; reframe problems in ways that make solutions more attainable; introduce independent mediation and expertise; and build coalitions.
Engaging with new and traditional media The UN system should establish and strengthen partnerships with new and traditional media to address hate speech narratives and promote the values of tolerance, non-discrimination, pluralism, and freedom of opinion and expression
Using technology UN entities should keep up with technological innovation and encourage more research on the relationship between the misuse of the Internet and social media for spreading hate speech and the factors that drive individuals towards violence.
https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-02/UNDP-DFS-Stepping-Forward-Parliaments-in-the-Fight-Against-Hate-Speech.pdf Whilst disinformation is distinct from hate speech, it can have a symbiotic relationship with or reinforcing effect on its emergence. Disinformation can be seen as a driver of hate speech, which is often deployed as part of a concerted strategy to target or radicalize groups and individuals and lay the groundwork for hate speech, incitement to violence and actual violence.
Criminalizing Hate Speech: Perhaps the most forceful, but possibly the most complex and sensitive measure from a human rights perspective that a legislature can take against hate speech is to make it a crime. However, as the Human Rights Committee General Comment 34 of 2022 and the 2012 Rabat Plan of Action make clear, criminalization of expression should only be considered as a “last resort.” Other measures, including public statements by leaders, education and intercultural dialogue, should be considered first. Expression should be subject to criminal prosecution only if it meets a threshold of seriousness based on the following six variables:
1. social and political context of the speech;
2. status of the speaker;
3. intent to incite an audience towards a targeted group;
4. content and form of the speech;
5. extent of dissemination and;
6. likelihood of harm, including imminence
One-pager on “incitement to hatred” https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Opinion/SeminarRabat/Rabat_threshold_test.pdf
OHCHR and freedom of expression vs incitement to hatred: the Rabat Plan of Action https://www.ohchr.org/en/freedom-of-expression
The Rabat Plan notes with concern that perpetrators of incidents, which indeed reach the threshold of article 20 of the ICCPR, are not prosecuted and punished. At the same time,members of minorities are de facto persecuted, with a chilling effect on others, through the abuse of vague domestic legislation, jurisprudence and policies.
Political and religious leaders should refrain from using any incitement to hatred, but they also have a crucial role to play in speaking out firmly and promptly against hate speech and should make clear that violence can never be tolerated as a response to incitement to hatred https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Rabat_draft_outcome.pdf
Despite the SC Order, Hateful Rallies In Maharashtra Persist, Citizens Group Demands Action | T Raja https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntJMqblzvE
May 12, 2023
The Sakal Hindu Samaj, an organization known for organizing hateful rallies against so-called Love Jihad and Land Jihad, has been causing unrest in Maharashtra for the past six to seven months. They often invite repeat hate speech offenders like T Raja and Kajal Hindustani to speak at these rallies. Initially, these rallies were happening every other day, with the same hateful rhetoric being spewed at each one. The Loksatta editor Girish Kuber pointed out in an interview with The Wire that this was an attempt by the ruling dispensation to communalize a relatively peaceful state like Maharashtra. BJP leaders were also seen frequenting these rallies, making it seem like the state was supporting them.
The situation changed when the Supreme Court intervened after a PIL was filed by Maktoob journalist Shaheen Abdulla. The court directed the police to take legal action to stop hate speech and even called the Shinde government "impotent" for failing to do so. The rallies cooled down for a few days after the order, but a large rally was organized in Daayghar, a suburb of Mumbai, on April 30th, 2023. The speakers at this rally used anti-Muslim slurs for secular leaders like Jitendra Awhad and targeted the Haji Malang dargah, a 300-year-old syncretic shrine where both a Hindu and a Muslim religious official had been officiating at rituals.
Despite having information about the Daayghar rally, the police failed to take any action against the Sakal Hindu Samaj. A citizens group, including CJP of Teesta Setalvad and the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, went to the Thane Police commissioner to demand action against the speeches at the rally. Journalist-activist Teesta Setalvad spoke about the issue and provided more details.
Watch the video to know more.
Politics Over Hate Speech Ban in Karnataka https://www.newsclick.in/politics-over-hate-speech-ban-karnataka Ram Puniyani | 09 May 2023
In its manifesto for the Karnataka polls, the Congress party committed to ban organisations that “spread hatred against communities on grounds of religion or caste”. In that sense, it equated the Peoples Front of India, banned by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, with the Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, itself an arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of which the BJP is an arm.
There was a mini-storm in response, as the BJP made it a major issue in the last days of its election campaign.
There were many incidents between 2006 to 2008 that highlighted the warped priorities and violent actions of Bajrang Dal “activists”. For example, Naresh and Himanshu Panse (a VHP member), were accidentally killed while making bombs, and a kurta-pyjama and a false beard were found near the site. It hinted that the attempt was to pin a blast on to a Muslim perpetrator, and, by extension, create an opportunity to blame the entire Muslim community for the damage it would cause. There have been other such instances, where the finger of suspicion has come to rest on a member of the right-wing brigade, though more often than not, the role is denied by the Bajrang Dal. In January 2019, another worker of the outfit, Yogesh Raj, was arrested for the murder of inspector Subodh Kumar in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. The incident involved allegations of a cow having been slaughtered. In the recent Ram Navami violence in Bihar Sharif, Kundan Kumar, also of the Bajrang Dal, has been arrested for fomenting unrest and violence.
What about the PFI? Spreading hate and consequent violence has been the hallmark of their activities, too. Such organisations may operate in the name of religion but are intolerant and resort to violence.
As society shifts towards orthodoxy, even secular parties are afraid to criticise communal forces that use religion as an instrument to capture or retain power. One can only remind them that the Taliban’s dictates for women may sound terrible, but oppression, even when measured in degrees, causes suffering and torment—opposing jeans for women and imposing the burqa are on the same spectrum of tyranny, even if the degrees vary.
Chhattisgarh: BJP, VHP members pledge economic boycott of Muslims, Christians after communal clashes
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad on April 10 pledged the economic boycott of Muslims and Christians in Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur days after communal clashes took place in the state, reported The Hindu on Wednesday.
Communal clashes had erupted in Bemetara district on April 8 after two school students from different communities got into a fight reported The Indian Express. The incident soon spilled over into a clash between members of the two communities.
13/04/2023
A Supreme Court bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna had strong words to say on the role of the state in taking action against incidents of hate speech.
The hearing, in which the bench was considering a petition asking for contempt of court action against the Maharashtra government over their alleged failure to act against hate speeches during rallies, was reported on by LiveLaw in detail. The petitions alleged that the state government was ignoring the Supreme Court’s own directions when dealing with processions of the Sakal Hindu Samaj. This Supreme Court bench had also asked authorities to take relevant action against proponents of hate speech without waiting for a complaint to be filed.
https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-justice-joseph-nagarathna-hate-speech-religion
31/03/2023
- T Raja Singh again gave hate speech against Muslims
- How ‘love jihad’ rallies are spreading hate against Muslims in Maharashtra
- Women in Bengaluru protest Pramod Mutalik’s hate speech against Muslim women
- SC on Hate Crimes: 'Primary Duty of State Is to Protect Citizens, No Compromise at All'
- Self-Regulatory Body Issues Guidelines Against Hate Speech for Electronic, Digital Media
Subcategories
Hate Speech / Incitement to violence
Hate Speech Maharashtra
PUCL Maharashtra has decided to showcase information on Hate Speech in Maharashtra as presented in the different websites, social media of Civil Society organisations and concerned individuals. Each one has their own style of documentation and each one is a shining node. We hope to have a decentralised platform which will valorise whatever work individuals an organisations are doing, such that while they do their regular work of posting, creating websites, blogs, data directories, such that it can be searched, and researched, and help activist (information activist, if you will) curate this content into learning modules, state of the art reports.. letting a thousand nodes glow.
250811-Jalgaon-lynching of Pathan after being seen with Hindu woman at cafe
A 21-year-old Muslim man was on Monday beaten to death allegedly by members of a Hindutva group in the town of Jamner in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. The perpetrators allegedly assaulted Suleman Rahim Khan Pathan after he was seen with a Hindu woman from the same village at a cafe
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Two Muslim-owned restaurants in Wani, Yavatmal, were forcibly shut down by members of the Bajrang Dal
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At the “Samrast Yatra” event in Kurla, Mumbai, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, a Jain monk disseminated hate speech rife with anti-Muslim propaganda.
250200-Rane
Rane’s speeches continued throughout the month of February, spreading more hateful conspiracy theories, and even suggesting that if Muslims “looked at Hindus in an incorrect manner,” they would face consequences. He stated that, “Our government is very bad. What is going on around I am aware of everything. You don’t have to struggle. Wherever something wrong is happening, wherever someone tries to slaughter a cow, wherever someone tries to smuggle, wherever green snakes try to wriggle, just make one call, and leave the rest of the arrangements to me., https://cjp.org.in/the-role-of-leaders-in-spreading-divisive-rhetoric/