The Delhi Police has told the Supreme Court that no anti-Muslim hate speech was made by journalist Suresh Chavhanke at a religious conclave organised in Delhi in December by the Hindutva organisation, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Live Law reported on Thursday.
The police made the submission in an affidavit filed in response to a public interest litigation filed by former judge of Patna High Court Anjana Prakash and journalist Qurban Ali. The petition stated that between December 17 and 19, hate speeches were made at two separate events – the one in Delhi and another in Haridwar.
In one of the videos of the Delhi event, Chavhanke, the editor-in-chief of television channel Sudarshan News, could be seen administering an oath to a group of people to “die for and kill” to make India a “Hindu rashtra”, or a Hindu nation.
However, in the affidavit, the police submitted that an investigation into the videos of the speeches made at the event showed that the words used did not target any particular community.
“None of the words spoken during the event described overtly or explicitly Indian Muslims as usurpers of territory and nothing was said which could create an environment of paranoia against any religion,” the police told the court, Live Law reported.
The Delhi Police also alleged that the petitioners have approached the Supreme Court against the events with “unclean hands”, Live Law reported. The police questioned why the petitioners had moved the court before approaching the police.
“The allegations made by the petitioners against the police authorities that police authorities are hand in glove with perpetrators of communal hate are baseless and imaginary,” the police contended. “The case is based on videotape evidence. There is hardly any scope on the part of investigation agencies to tamper with the evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner.”
On Wednesday, a Supreme Court bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar had sought a status report from the Uttarakhand government on the petition filed against the Haridwar event.
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