Lawyers write to Delhi Police chief seeking FIR against Suresh Chavhanke for hate speech
Supreme Court advocate Avani Bansal and three others have written to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, seeking the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) against Sudarshan News Chairperson and Managing Director Suresh Chavhanke and others for hate speech and for promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion.
In a complaint to the Commissioner Bansal, advocate Prakhar Dixit and Prashant Dubey have stated that Chavanke delivered a hate speech in Delhi on December 19, 2021 at a function organised by Hindu Yuva Vahini, a Hindu religious organisation.
The event was also attended by the Hindu Yuva Vahini Divisional Incharge (Gorakhpur Division) - Rajeshwar Singh, HYV Delhi President - Rajiv Kumar, Delhi State Incharge - Uday Bhan Singh, Delhi State In-charge - Prempal Gupta and various other people.
A copy of the complaint has also been sent to the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
The complainants have stated that the accused persons administered an oath to a large number of people inciting feelings of communal violence and hatred, creating enmity between different groups on the basis of religion. The accused speakers used inflammatory and provocative sentences while administering the oath, calling for killing of people in the name of religion if required.
The said that the video of the said oath was shared by Chavhanke on his Twitter handle and is widely circulated over the social and mainstream media.
Bansal and the other complainants have stated that the speech by Chavhanke and the oath would spread enmity between groups based on religion and incite the feelings of communal violence amongst the participants and viewers.
Bansal is also the national spokesperson of Youth Congress and the National Legal Aid Coordinator of Mahila Congress.
The complaint states that actions of the accused persons amounts to cognizable offences under Sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 295A, 295A, 298, 505(1), 505(2) and 120 B of Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 66A, 69, 59A Rule 3(2)(b), Rule 3(2)(i) of Information Technology Act, 2000; Section 2(f) , 10, 11, 12 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Section 5, 6, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and further also violates the Orders of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.
It adds that the letter to the Commissioner has been written after a week of the alleged incident, since no action has been taken with regards the speech and the oath (all these days).
The complaint to the Commissioner further states, “It would also be pertinent to mention here that this event organised in Delhi on 19 December, 2021 is the second such communal event in one month, with the first one held at Haridwar from 17th to 9th December, 2021 by Yati Narasimhanand, a religious leader who has been accused in the past of inciting violence with his incendiary speeches. The said event was attended by several BJP leaders, religious leaders, and heads of Hindu organiszations. The speakers at the Haridwar conclave “Dharma Sansad” organised at Ved Niketan Dham, made speeches openly advocating and encouraging violence against Muslims and Christians, invoking people to take up arms and even threatened to shoot a former Prime Minister of India. An FIR has been registered under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) against Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, formerly known as Waseem Rizvi, and others, for the same.”