The Gauhati High Court on Thursday sought Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s response to petitions seeking action against him for alleged hate speech against Muslims, Bar and Bench reported.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury verbally observed that the speeches allegedly made by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and cited by the petitioners reflected a “fissiparous tendency”, Live Law reported.
In addition to Sarma, the bench has also issued notice to the Centre and the Assam government, seeking their response in the matter.
In the past month, Sarma has made a series of remarks targeting Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam, calling them “Miyas”. The BJP leader had said that it was his job to “make them suffer”.
In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to refer to undocumented immigrants and is exclusively directed at Muslims of Bengali origin. They are often accused of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.
Once a pejorative in Assam, from the common use of the honorific “Miya” among South Asian Muslims, the term has now been reappropriated by the community as a self-descriptor to refer to Muslims who migrated to Assam from Bengal during the colonial era.
Petitions against Sarma have been filed by the Congress, Assamese scholar Hiren Gohain, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and others.
On Thursday, Advocate CU Singh, representing some of the petitioners, argued before the High Court that Sarma had been engaging in “dog whistling” by claiming that Miya Muslims should not be allowed to vote in Assam, Bar and Bench reported.
The BJP leader has also said that he would “steal” the community’s votes and that many Muslim voters would be deleted from the electoral list, the advocate added.
Elections in Assam are scheduled to be held in March or April.
Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for one of the petitioners, noted that “a constitutional authority…has acted repetitively, habitually…by using words of a vituperative campaign of hate”, Bar and Bench reported.
Singhvi also referred to a now-deleted social media post by the BJP’s Assam unit, containing a video depicting Sarma symbolically firing at images of two Muslim men at point-blank range.
“Gun pointing, visibly religious emblematic image, another graphic image,” Bar and Bench quoted Singhvi as saying. “This is reprehensible and inexcusable by anyone, but there can be degrees when one takes an oath, or when I take a public office.”
The petitioners also alleged that the Assam Police had not registered a suo moto first information report despite public videos of the alleged hate speeches, Live Law reported.
Such inaction fostered a “climate of impunity”, the petitions added.
The petitions have sought an independent probe by a Special Investigation Team against the chief minister under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to promoting enmity between groups, imputations prejudicial to national integration and statements conducing to public mischief, Live Law reported.
The matter was listed for further hearing in April.
Earlier in February, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain the petitions seeking that a first information report be filed against Sarma for hate speech against Muslims.
The bench had told the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court. It had also asked the High Court to hear the matter on priority.
Also Read: Has the Supreme Court gone soft on hate speech?
Just 0.2% of readers pay for news. The others don’t care if it dies. You can help make a difference. Support independent journalism – join Scroll now.
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!