Hate Speech

Justice Sumeet Goel cites prima facie digital evidence, seriousness of hate-motivated speech, and the need for custodial interrogation

As the Sanatan Ekta Padyatra traversed 422 village panchayats across three states, it carried not merely religious symbolism but explicit political messaging. Calls for a Hindu Rashtra, vilification of Muslim communities, and assertions of majoritarian dominance raise serious questions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s provisions on promoting enmity, inciting violence, and disturbing public tranquillity. Yet, as the aftermath shows, ranging from protests in Datia to a clash in Vrindavan, the legal system’s response has been fragmented and cautious. This report interrogates that legal vacuum, situating the padyatra within established precedents of hate-speech jurisprudence and the enduring gap between statutory safeguards and ground-level enforcement.

This piece uncovers the rise of digital warfare—from caste-coded AI videos in Bihar to calls for the economic segregation of vendors—detailing the calculated strategy to fracture society and weaponise Dalits against Muslims to divert attention from joblessness and poverty

The Court’s refusal to monitor rising hate-speech incidents marks a decisive shift from its earlier activist stance, exposing contradictions between judicial pronouncements, institutional capacity, and the lived realities of targeted communities

In Bhagalpur’s Pirpainti, the senior BJP leader urged “Muslim brothers” to reduce their population and referred to “infiltrators,” breaching the Model Code of Conduct and constitutional values

In twin complaints to the Election Commission, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) alleges Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and AIMIM candidate Tausif Alam of crossing constitutional red lines — one by communalising the campaign with hate-laden rhetoric, the other by threatening brutal violence against a rival, exposing the deep decay of democratic discourse in the Bihar elections

Mocking Islamic practices and appealing to Hindu identity for votes, CJP’s complaint says that the BJP leader’s remarks violate the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of the People Act, and the spirit of India’s secular Constitution

Three formal complaints filed during the Model Code of Conduct period—against Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Nityanand Rai, and BJP MP Ashok Kumar Yadav—combined with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Siwan speech, reveal a pattern of communal and exclusionary rhetoric that blurred the line between campaign promise and state threat

After a video of his alleged inflammatory speech at a Deepotsava event went viral, the Sessions Court in Puttur restrained police from arresting or detaining Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat — the latest in a long series of hate speech complaints against the influential RSS organiser in coastal Karnataka

In the build-up to the Bihar state elections, BJP leaders make a string of hate speech’s with BJP leader Pragya Singh Thakur also saying that if a daughter goes to a ‘non-believer’s house’, her ‘legs should be broken’