The Supreme Court on Monday posted for May 9, a plea seeking a court-monitored investigation and prosecution in hate crimes related to the "continuous attack" on the personality of Prophet Mohammad and disparaging remarks by various people in different parts of the country attacking the very belief system of Muslims at large.
A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar posted the matter for May 9 for hearing along with similar pending cases.The plea was filed by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind through its president Maulana Syed Mahmood Asad Madani and sought a direction to the Centre for a report on the action taken by different state mechanisms in relation to hate speeches, more particularly targeting the personality of the Prophet.
The plea contended that insulting the Prophet was akin to attacking the very foundation of Islam.
It further sought orders for constituting an independent committee to compile all the complaints related to hate crimes in the country.
The plea submitted that such speeches go beyond the limits of a permitted critical denial of another's beliefs and were certainly likely to incite religious intolerance, and the state and Central government authorities ought to consider the same to be incompatible with respect to the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and must take proportionate restrictive measures.
It has been pointed out in the petition that such speeches destroy the secular fabric of the nation which also forms a part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
It emphasised that the state machinery, bound by the Constitution, ought to have an adversarial relationship with the proponents of such speeches and must take adequate remedial and preventive steps.
The plea added that however, even after a considerable amount of time, the state authorities have allegedly failed to uphold their duties in this regard.
Through such hate speeches, specifically, when made against the religious personalities and Muslim community at large, the diversity of the country and peaceful co-existence of the followers of different religious beliefs come under serious threat, it claimed.
( With inputs from ANI )
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