A Minister saying “Goli Maaro” is incitement to kill: Justice Madan Lokur on hate speech

Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur on Sunday lamented the reaction of the executive and courts in India to hate speech, particularly by Ministers..“We've had, in Delhi, a Minister saying "Goli Maaro". What is that, if not incitement to kill?” the former judge said..Justice Lokur was addressing a talk organised by Manthan Live to discuss hate speech in general and how Indian courts have been dealing with it..The judge outlined the statutory provisions that could include hate speech under their ambit, precedents as well as international jurisprudence. Throughout, he emphasised that violence was not necessary to constitute an offence of hate speech..While discussing Canadian jurisprudence, which emphasises on viewing hate speech from the standpoint of a reasonable person, Justice Lokur said that he always understood exactly what a reasonable person meant, until recently.“Is a Minister who gives hate speech a reasonable person? A Minister who puts a garland on persons who are convicted of lynching. Is he a reasonable person?” he pondered..While giving examples of hate speech in India in the recent past, the judge spoke of the Sulli Deals and Bulli Deals controversies, which involved the auctioning of Muslim women. He emphasised that though there was no violence in these acts, they amounted to hate speech..“Relax, it’s not like you actually got auctioned:” A personal essay on the Bulli Bai episode.He went on to discuss the speech targeting the Muslim community delivered at the Haridwar Dharma Sansad last year, where calls were made for ethnic cleansing and genocide. While quoting Article 3 of the Genocide Convention, the judge reminded that a call for genocide is genocide..[BREAKING] Haridwar Dharam Sansad: Supreme Court issues notice in plea for probe into hate speech.He went on to term the executive as a “silent spectator” in all this. In the context of the speech at the Dharma Sansad he said, “Here you have the executive which is either silent. It took no action so far as Dharma Sansad was concerned till the Supreme Court said 'what's going on'?”He also criticised the stand taken by the Supreme Court that it would only get involved in cases of hate speech if there was violence..“What can we do? Frankly, I don’t know,” said Justice Lokur when discussing solutions. He advised that we could begin by showing solidarity with victims. He also recommended that we must act collectively to persuade courts and Parliament to try a different approach.“One suggestion that I have is to discuss this, persuade Parliament to enact a law, persuade courts to be far more proactive. We need to get the executive involved, the prosecution involved.”.[Read a live account of the speech here]

A Minister saying “Goli Maaro” is incitement to kill: Justice Madan Lokur on hate speech

Shagun Suryam

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