76 SC lawyers write to CJI for prompt action on Haridwar genocide call

As many as 76 Supreme Court lawyers asked the Chief Justice of India to take “suo motu cognisance” for the recent calls of genocide against Muslims at events organised in Haridwar and Delhi, reported NDTV

Eminent lawyers such as Dushyant Dave, Prashant Bhushan, Salman Khurshid, etc, wrote in the letter that “Urgent judicial intervention is required to prevent such events that seem to have become the order of the day. The aforementioned events and the speeches delivered during the same are not mere hate speeches but amount to an open call for murder of an entire community.”

The lawyers are concerned that these speeches endanger the lives of Indian Muslims as well as pose a “grave threat to the unity and integrity of our country”. They appealed to the CJI NV Ramana to take urgent action.

In a police case that was filed after outrage on social media, only three people have been named in total. However, the letter signed by the lawyers gave a list of names of people who gave the speeches.

One of those named in the FIR, Sadhvi Annapurna, openly asked the people to kill “20 lakh of them to win this”. Yet, none of the organisers expressed regret or condemned the hate speeches, reported NDTV.

Another Hindu leader, Prabodhanand Giri, whose video went viral, said, “Like Myanmar, our police, our politicians, our Army and every Hindu must pick up weapons and conduct a Safayi Abhiyan. There is no other option left.” This very leader has often been photographed with Yogi Adityanath and Pushkar Dhami, the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The letter noted that steps need to be taken under sections 153, 153A, 153B, 295A, 504, 506, 120B, 34 of the IPC, in the many petitions that are pending in the court on this issue.