CJP complains to NCM against Kalicharan's series of hate speeches across Maharashtra
Numerous inciting speeches against Muslims were delivered by him, ranging from demand for Love-Jihad law in Maharashtra to open calls for violence Feb- March this year
On May 26, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) filed a complaint with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) against serial hate offender Kalicharan Maharaj, against the deeply communal and hate-spewing speeches delivered by Kalicharan Maharaj, alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag across Maharashtra from February 2023 to March 2023.
Kalicharan, a so-called religious leader, espouses a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, and can be seen delivering incendiary and inciteful speeches through which he has targeted the religious minorities of our country, especially the Muslim community.
As a part of CJP’s rigorous Hate Watch campaign, it has been diligently maintaining a record of the hate speeches being made by him on public platforms. Based on this record, CJP’s complaint highlighted the following speeches, and also provided the excerpts of the statements made at the said events:
1. Nanded – April 9
He was heard advocating for violence against Muslims and calling them “traitors and terrorist” and making ill-informed and controversial claims about the Quran. The crowd can be heard cheering and whistling to his claims.
2. Maharashtra (unknown location) – April 5
At this event organized by the Sakal Hindu Samaj, Kalicharan can be seen and heard saying that “The violence done for protection of religion is the highest moral virtue. That’s why all our gods and goddesses are violent. For protecting the society, religion and nation, killing is not a sin. If the intention is to protect religion and nation.”
3. Udgir- March 24
At an event at Udgir, Latur, Maharashtra, organized by the Hindu Dharam Sabha, Kalicharan made a claim that 5 crore (50 million) Rohingyas are residing in India. This claim is baseless and untrue because the worldwide population of Rohingyas is approximately 3 million.
4. Baramati- February 9
At the said event, organized by the Hindu Jagarjana Morcha, Kalicharan made the claim that Muslims want to convert everyone because according to them, those who are not Muslims are kaafirs and it is written in the Quran that you should kill a kaafir. He adds, “wives of kaafirs are stolen property and one woman being raped by 50 men is not a big deal.”
5. Nandurbar- February 6
At the said event, organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Kalicharan made a claim that 30 years ago, 5 lakh women were raped in Kashmir. He also stated that, “Muslims are prepared. When mosques and Madrassas are raided, swords, AK-47 and RDX are recovered. If temples are raided are any guns or swords ever recovered?” He then goes on to make a baseless claim that Qutubuddin destroyed the Kashi Vishweshwar temple, urinated on a shivling and built a mosque there.
The complaint has emphasised on how statements such as the ones made by Kalicharan add to the current divisive and polarised environment, and even have the potential of inciting the consuming audience, and pose a danger to the individuals belonging to minority communities. The complaint has also highlighted that Kalicharan has offered no data for all the strange, offensive and misinformed claims that he has made. These baseless statements not only stand to destroy the communal harmony in the country but are also reflective of a divisive mindset that can only trigger insecurity and trauma among sections of our own people while working as propaganda on others to commit criminal and violent acts. It was also pointed out in the complaint that his ignorant comments clearly amount to spreading hatred and distrust against vulnerable and marginalized sections of our population, Muslims, besides being a grave threat to the peace, unity and integrity of India.
CJP also highlighted that they have been actively reaching out to district and state authorities as well with respect to taking action against Kalicharan. It is also pertinent to note that this is not the first time CJP has moved the NCM against Kalicharan. On December 28, 2022, CJP had filed a complaint to the NCM regarding Kalicharan’s speech made on December 14, 2022 after he had made derogatory statements, spewed hate against the Muslims and made strange claims at a protest titled the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha, organised by the Hindu right-wing extremist outfit Sakal Hindu Samaj, in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
Through the speeches highlighted in the said complaint to the NCM, and based on the background of this serial hate offender, CJP sought a swift and stringent action against Kalicharan under certain sections of the IPC. The complaint states that “It is especially perturbing that even after rigorously complaining to various authorities, hate offenders like Kalicharan Maharaj are able to deliver hate speeches in the state of Maharashtra. Kalicharan Maharaj tops all the hate speeches that took place in Maharashtra, and has given the maximum number of hate speeches in Maharashtra under various banners such as Sakal Hindu Samaj, VHP, Bajrang, and Sri Ram Pratishthan, all of which propagate an extremist and divisive ideology.”
CJP urged that the speech given by Kalicharan be acted upon as well as criminal changes be levied on him for uttering such words that can cause problems for the safety and security of the minority community in our country, threaten and intimidate women and also threaten social harmony in general.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
CJP complaint to DGP, Maharashtra and NCM against Misleading and Islamophobic speech by Kalicharan
Another complaint to Times Now on polarised debate over Madrassa survey in UP
CJP Victory! NBDSA Fines News18 Over Hateful Shows
CJP sends second complaint urging action against Suresh Chavhanke: Srirampur, Maharashtra
Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels
CJP complains to NCM against Kalicharan's series of hate speeches across Maharashtra
Numerous inciting speeches against Muslims were delivered by him, ranging from demand for Love-Jihad law in Maharashtra to open calls for violence Feb- March this year
On May 26, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) filed a complaint with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) against serial hate offender Kalicharan Maharaj, against the deeply communal and hate-spewing speeches delivered by Kalicharan Maharaj, alias Abhijit Dhananjay Sarag across Maharashtra from February 2023 to March 2023.
Kalicharan, a so-called religious leader, espouses a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, and can be seen delivering incendiary and inciteful speeches through which he has targeted the religious minorities of our country, especially the Muslim community.
As a part of CJP’s rigorous Hate Watch campaign, it has been diligently maintaining a record of the hate speeches being made by him on public platforms. Based on this record, CJP’s complaint highlighted the following speeches, and also provided the excerpts of the statements made at the said events:
1. Nanded – April 9
He was heard advocating for violence against Muslims and calling them “traitors and terrorist” and making ill-informed and controversial claims about the Quran. The crowd can be heard cheering and whistling to his claims.
2. Maharashtra (unknown location) – April 5
At this event organized by the Sakal Hindu Samaj, Kalicharan can be seen and heard saying that “The violence done for protection of religion is the highest moral virtue. That’s why all our gods and goddesses are violent. For protecting the society, religion and nation, killing is not a sin. If the intention is to protect religion and nation.”
3. Udgir- March 24
At an event at Udgir, Latur, Maharashtra, organized by the Hindu Dharam Sabha, Kalicharan made a claim that 5 crore (50 million) Rohingyas are residing in India. This claim is baseless and untrue because the worldwide population of Rohingyas is approximately 3 million.
4. Baramati- February 9
At the said event, organized by the Hindu Jagarjana Morcha, Kalicharan made the claim that Muslims want to convert everyone because according to them, those who are not Muslims are kaafirs and it is written in the Quran that you should kill a kaafir. He adds, “wives of kaafirs are stolen property and one woman being raped by 50 men is not a big deal.”
5. Nandurbar- February 6
At the said event, organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Kalicharan made a claim that 30 years ago, 5 lakh women were raped in Kashmir. He also stated that, “Muslims are prepared. When mosques and Madrassas are raided, swords, AK-47 and RDX are recovered. If temples are raided are any guns or swords ever recovered?” He then goes on to make a baseless claim that Qutubuddin destroyed the Kashi Vishweshwar temple, urinated on a shivling and built a mosque there.
The complaint has emphasised on how statements such as the ones made by Kalicharan add to the current divisive and polarised environment, and even have the potential of inciting the consuming audience, and pose a danger to the individuals belonging to minority communities. The complaint has also highlighted that Kalicharan has offered no data for all the strange, offensive and misinformed claims that he has made. These baseless statements not only stand to destroy the communal harmony in the country but are also reflective of a divisive mindset that can only trigger insecurity and trauma among sections of our own people while working as propaganda on others to commit criminal and violent acts. It was also pointed out in the complaint that his ignorant comments clearly amount to spreading hatred and distrust against vulnerable and marginalized sections of our population, Muslims, besides being a grave threat to the peace, unity and integrity of India.
CJP also highlighted that they have been actively reaching out to district and state authorities as well with respect to taking action against Kalicharan. It is also pertinent to note that this is not the first time CJP has moved the NCM against Kalicharan. On December 28, 2022, CJP had filed a complaint to the NCM regarding Kalicharan’s speech made on December 14, 2022 after he had made derogatory statements, spewed hate against the Muslims and made strange claims at a protest titled the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha, organised by the Hindu right-wing extremist outfit Sakal Hindu Samaj, in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
Through the speeches highlighted in the said complaint to the NCM, and based on the background of this serial hate offender, CJP sought a swift and stringent action against Kalicharan under certain sections of the IPC. The complaint states that “It is especially perturbing that even after rigorously complaining to various authorities, hate offenders like Kalicharan Maharaj are able to deliver hate speeches in the state of Maharashtra. Kalicharan Maharaj tops all the hate speeches that took place in Maharashtra, and has given the maximum number of hate speeches in Maharashtra under various banners such as Sakal Hindu Samaj, VHP, Bajrang, and Sri Ram Pratishthan, all of which propagate an extremist and divisive ideology.”
CJP urged that the speech given by Kalicharan be acted upon as well as criminal changes be levied on him for uttering such words that can cause problems for the safety and security of the minority community in our country, threaten and intimidate women and also threaten social harmony in general.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
CJP complaint to DGP, Maharashtra and NCM against Misleading and Islamophobic speech by Kalicharan
Another complaint to Times Now on polarised debate over Madrassa survey in UP
CJP Victory! NBDSA Fines News18 Over Hateful Shows
CJP sends second complaint urging action against Suresh Chavhanke: Srirampur, Maharashtra
Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels
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Hate a political tool, now a state project: India 2023
There is a chance to make Meta Facebook accountable for its hate generating content on May 31, by voting YES for Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” which is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices. The writer calls on readers to participate in this campaign on social media to make our republic hate-free
Image: Reuters
UPDATE: June 1, 2023
Unfortunately, the shareholders of Meta Platforms Inc. have voted against an inquiry into allegations of hate speech dissemination and concerns about content moderation in India at their annual general meeting on May 31. At the AGM meeting which was attended by Founder Mark Zuckerberg, senior executives and nine members of Meta’s board, among others, shareholders of the company voted against Proposal 7, which was titled , which was titled 'Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market' as a voting matter. Details of the numbers for and against are not available yet.
The proposal was put forth by Eko, a non-profit advocacy that campaigns to hold corporations accountable on social issues. The details of the vote were tweeted by the Internet Freedom Foundation, which has been campaigning alongside Eko to raise awareness on Proposal 7 in India.
Internet Freedom Foundation, part of the campaign vowed to carry on the fight for accountability.
Voting on Proposal 7 took place a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, as per the preliminary voting outcomes, the vote was not in favour of Proposal 7. This is a loss for Indian users of @Meta’s platforms, but our fight for transparency & accountability from Meta does not end here.
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) May 31, 2023
The Proposal also outlined how, content moderation in India is undercut by poor capacity of Meta’s “misinformation classifiers” (algorithms) and its human moderators to recognize many of India’s 22 officially recognized languages," the proposal had said.
It is however noteworthy that the Meta's board had already recommended shareholders to vote against the proposal, citing that the company already has been undertaking efforts to address these.
“The requested report is unnecessary and would not provide additional benefit to our shareholders," it had said in a proxy statement prior to the AGM
In close to four decades as a journalist and civil rights activist working across India, I have witnessed my fair share of religious polarisation and attendant violence. In this period, I have covered the Bombay-Bhiwandi communal violence of 1984, seen and witnessed from afar the anti-Sikh pogrom in New Delhi in 1984, the Bombay Riots of 1993, in which over 900 people (mostly Muslims) were killed and the 2002 Gujrat Pogrom, in which over 2000 people (again, predominantly Muslims), the Muzaffarnagar violence 2013 communal flare-ups in Malegaon, Nasik, Dhule and Akola over the years, among others. The experience of on-ground coverage of communal violence has its lessons for the reporter that unfortunately escape today’s television studio based and social media driven journalism. The non--negotiables: visit the spot of the conflict, talk to all sides despite the mental and physical borders constructed by society and state, do not rely on police tweets, press releases and versions; watch out for the pre-violence outbreak rumour, hate mongering through speech and writing.
Who cast the first stone is a time-tested journalistic ethic developed by me through this hard experience, buffeted by the findings of three dozen or more judicial commission reports appointed to Inquire into bouts of Communal Violence since the 1960s, all overseen by sitting and retired senior judges that I have closely studied. The learning: hate speech plays a crucial role in escalating the conflict, provocative words and writing and through their systemic use and dissemination, stigmatization carefully nurses a social atmosphere conducive to the outbreak of targeted violence. The majority, made complicit by this hate-mongering stays silent, the police infected by this steady dose of prejudicial ideas, manipulated histories and verbally violent stigmatization, fails to act to protect lives, in a more acute stage of complicity even participates in the violence.
Yet nothing in my lived experience quite prepared me for the scale of hatred against Muslims (and Christians, even Dalits and Women) that has been unleashed after Narendra Modi, of the majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected as Prime Minister in 2014, and especially since his re-election in 2019. Islamophobia, and other anti-minorities hate has not only become “the new normal” in the New India, we see empirical evidence of this everyday as our teams at Citizens for Justice and Peace monitor and document in a series of reports, as part of our campaign “Hate Hatao.” Hate generation through unchecked alogrithms on social media, especially Meta Facebook with 314 million users in India has made the amplification seriously threatening.
Hate is today a State Project in India where the political formation in power, its vigilante organisations & brown shirts are mentally and physically armed through hate propaganda to violently harm religious minorities, women, Dalits targets. Prejudiced Ideas, Acts of Prejudice, Discrimination, Violence – four stages prior to Genocide—have been breached.
Hateful rhetoric against Muslims most particularly –though the Christian minority, Dalits, Women and other Sexual minorities are far from immune--is broadcast through various channels: Whatsapp forwards, television shows, digital media, political rallies, even some newspaper articles authored by votaries of an altered nation state, proponents of a theocratic autocracy (Hindu Rashtra). A notable change in the editorial pages of print media is the column space given to these “ideologues”, space that affords them a legitimacy in the Indian media and public spectrum. Never mind that the articulation of such an altered state is also anti-Constitutional. By far the most significant outlet for hate speech is social media, in particular, are arguably Facebook and WhatsApp, both platforms that are owned by Meta Inc. Though Musk-owned Twitter and other newer versions are fast catching up!
The women and girls of India’s largest minority have been a debasing target –through 2021 and 2022--through twitter accounts, Github and Clubhouse platforms where the macabre and shameful phenomenon of their auctions has taken place. A Radio Silence from the political leadership in power in New Delhi through all of this clearly signifies consent. Hate Crimes therefore enjoy a high level of impunity. That Facebook can be a participant-platform for this escalation up the genocidal pyramid is both shocking & unacceptable.
Between 1983 when I first began as a reporter of conflict and now, the change is marked. Social media platforms and digital media is the new reality. Both reach a far wider audience that traditional media outlets like newspapers and television. Which is to also say that allow a far wider number of people to both access and—importantly—produce content than mainstream media. India today has over 314 million Facebook users, by far the largest of any country in the world, and over twice of the next largest, the United States, which has 175 million users. This makes social media platforms the ideal medium through which hate-mongering Hindu supremacist politicians and activists can gain a following. To create a political constituency for majoritarianism manipulate FB and create multipliers through content.
Many members of the BJP, its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and dozens of the spawn outfits that are created with multiple identities (Sakal Hindu Samaj, Hindu Jan Jagruti Sena, Ram Sene are just a few) have spoken candidly about the importance of the use of social media to Hindutva organising and mobilisation.
Some quick examples: In October 2018 we complained to Ms. Ankhi Das, the Public Policy Director, India, South & Central Asia, Facebook about the vandalisation of a Church in Varanasi, St. Thomas Church in the prime minister’s parliamentary constituency, by extremists, some of whom had also previously posted --on Facebook --inflammatory content targeting the Christian community. We received no response.
In 2019, our HateWatch programme had analysed how one elected official of the influential ruling BJP party from a state in the south, Telangana amplified a rumour and added his own hate-filled speech on Facebook where he had half a million viewers. A year earlier, he had called for a vicious economic boycott of “terrorist Kashmiris” during the Amarnath Yatra on a video that has been viewed 3,00,000 times. Finally, he was the central figure flagged in the August 2020 WSJ Report on how the corporation ignored hate speech by BJP leaders in India to protect its business interests. Welcome to T Raja Singh.
By March 2021, when FB finally concluded that he, Raja Singh, had, in fact, violated its own Community standards (Objectionable Content) and Violence and Criminal Behaviour rules, he was finally removed from FB. His Fan Pages with 2,19,430 and another with 17,018 followers, however continue to operate and generate provocative content.
Today, Raja Singh, “suspended” MLA of the ruling BJP has re-emerged in a new on-ground avatar, as one of the latest poster boys of hate for the ruling regime, spreading his venom across the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan. In Maharashtra where the regime faces a tough electoral contest next year (general elections May 2024, state assembly elections Aug-September 2024) he has addressed seven gatherings and has four FIRs against him, in Rajasthan he has one. For his vituperative election speech, CJP has filed a complaint with the state election commission that has been forwarded for further action. Another is Sudarshan News’s notorious Suresh Chavhanke.
Truly emboldened by an all round immunity that he, this “suspended” MLA enjoys, in May 2023, T. Raja Singh, who has in his earlier speeches called for violence against Muslims on multiple occasions, declared the following to an audience in Kota, Rajasthan:
“I want to tell Prime Minister Modi and other ministers that now, no one can stop us from establishing a Hindu nation. India will be an undivided Hindu nation. Through social media, we have to ensure that this message reaches PM Modi. We have to make sure this reaches those Ministers of India that are secular so that they know that secularism will not work in India it will not work in Rajasthan. Now, only the rule of Hindus and Hinduvta will be there.”
In other words, Singh was calling on his followers to take to social media and ask the prime minister to establish a Hindu ethnocracy in India. That an elected member of the legislature, who takes oath under the Constitution to abide by its republican and inclusive principles, is turning to social media to advance his agenda speaks volumes about the important role it plays in Hindutva mobilisation.
Similar stark examples around the Delhi 2020 violence in the capital, Delhi abound. Among these, the Ragini Towari (“kill or die” call), Kapil Mishra, Anjali Verma shrill use of social media, all show that it is the unchecked use of Facebook in non-English languages that is instrumental in the spill and spiral of targeted of violence on the streets. Facebook Inc has formally responded to two complaints sent by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) against hate content made by Ragini Tiwari, stating that they are not in a position to take any action against Tiwari. Instead, Facebook suggested that CJP contact the party directly to get a resolution on the issue! Then there is also a serial hate offender, Deepak Sharma who Facebook is extremely reluctant to disengage with: we developed a detailed profile of his activities and character through Facebook. We complained, brought it up in writing and at round-tables. With thousands of followers he still enjoys space on the platform.
Four years before the genocidal call to kill Muslims was made by him in December 2021 which led to a spurt of outrage among some Indians and even some movement in the hate speech case in the Supreme Court, we had been steadily tracking, documenting, reporting and complaining about the man at the centre of the genocidal hate story, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, pointing out the eco-system of hate he has created. During this painstaking process, in November 2018, four years before the genocidal call to kill Muslims was made by him in December 2021, when a CJP member complained about his FB post where he said Hindus should be armed 24X7 to protect their religion and that Islam is cancer, we were told by FB India that this does not go against their community standards but if we have an issue we can either block YATI or unfollow his page.
In short, we have tried to engage however and whenever given the chance, have had detailed correspondences, have offered more than a dozen and a half of minute case studies and many, more complaints that, have unfortunately resulted in unsatisfactory results. All this work has also been at a risk and cost as the government targeted us venomously.
Where lies the stumbling block?
Despite the FB mega corporation’s own set standards against public safety, hate speech, violence, discrimination, is that Facebook India fails to take cognisance of the local context of supremacist and communally charged politics. Comprehending the difference between hate speech and free speech requires a candid engagement with an understanding of India’s diversity and India’s track record of vicious, targeted communal violence. Allowing such hate content on Facebook also legitimises such content that, even courts have –albeit slowly --recognised.
Facebook’s automated filters which are supposed to filter hate speeches too, falter in India in the non-English languages: Any user can today search for hate content through a handful of 'key words', which Facebook does not filter out. (words or terms like “Kattar Hindu” (rigid or fanatical Hindu) पंचर पुत्र पंचर छाप, मुल्ले, मुल्ला, कटुआ, हलाला, हलाला की औलाद, बाबर की औलाद which are particular derogatory/slang terms devised simply escape all filters. (“Panchar”(slang/derogatory term for Muslims who work in automobile garages). In fact there are individuals, groups and pages with the ID Kattar Hindu, they have hundreds of thousands of followers. These. can be found on FB, WhatsApp, Twitter. By the way, all such usage is also violative of Indian Law and Jurisprudence, international law and conventions including the UN’s 2019 Call against Xenophobia and Hate Speech and the 2011 UN Guiding Principle on Business & Human Rights
This then is the other major reason that social media is central to the spread of Islamophobic hate speech is that companies like Meta have been egregiously lax in moderating content on their platforms. At CJP, we have documented [1] numerous instances of “viral” Islamophobic content on Facebook and WhatsApp that was not taken down, despite violating Meta’s own content moderation regulations, which explicitly debar any speech that vilifies a particular community.
Why is it that Meta tolerates hate speech on its platform? Partly, this is because the company has not invested in content moderation for its India operations, which means that much of the posts published in the country are not properly vetted, especially those in regional languages. At the same time, Meta has faced repeated allegations that its Indian staffers are sympathetic towards the BJP and its agenda and are thus turning a blind eye towards Islamophobic content. This came to the fore during the 2020 Delhi riots, when a video of a Hindu religious leader openly calling for “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims was shared widely on various Meta platforms, and was not taken down, despite numerous reports[2] .
I have mentioned just a few examples. Every day that Hindutva supremacists take to Facebook and WhatsApp to post inflammatory and violent posts targeting Muslims. They do this because they are confident that Meta will not hold them accountable. In effect, then, Meta has created a public space where Islamophobia can flourish with impunity. Indian civil society groups like CJP, Alt News, Hate Speech Beda (based in Karnataka), and others have dedicated significant resources to flagging and reporting hate speech on Meta’s platforms. But these actions can only go so far—indeed, our actions will always be inadequate—until Meta itself takes responsibility for its India platforms. At the end of the day, the company has far greater power than any groups or individuals.
For all these reasons, it is a very significant marker that tomorrow, May 31, hate speech on Meta’s India platforms will be on the agenda at the company’s annual general board meeting. “Proposal 7”—one of thirteen proposals that will be discussed at the meeting—presents the evidence against Meta for spreading Islamophobic hate speech, its inadequate content moderation, and the general lack of transparency around the company’s practices. The shareholders who are attending the meeting have a great opportunity to pressure to act to uphold the rights of Indian Muslims and hold Hindu hate speech mongers to account. . Notably, out of the 13 proposals being put to vote, this is the only one that relates to India, and to the inbuilt bias in AI. Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices.
This campaign, jointly launched by Ekō, India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), aims to raise awareness about Proposal 7 among users of Meta platforms, the relevant concerns highlighted in the proposal, and urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7 by May 31. As part of the campaign, IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till May 31, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively.
The Meta leadership might not care what Indian civil society groups think, but it certainly cares about the opinion of its shareholders.
This piece then ends with an unorthodox appeal from a senior journalist: We call on them to vote YES on Prop 7.
This article first appeared in the print and online The Telegraph edition on May 31, 2023
Hate a political tool, now a state project: India 2023
There is a chance to make Meta Facebook accountable for its hate generating content on May 31, by voting YES for Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” which is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices. The writer calls on readers to participate in this campaign on social media to make our republic hate-free
Image: Reuters
UPDATE: June 1, 2023
Unfortunately, the shareholders of Meta Platforms Inc. have voted against an inquiry into allegations of hate speech dissemination and concerns about content moderation in India at their annual general meeting on May 31. At the AGM meeting which was attended by Founder Mark Zuckerberg, senior executives and nine members of Meta’s board, among others, shareholders of the company voted against Proposal 7, which was titled , which was titled 'Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market' as a voting matter. Details of the numbers for and against are not available yet.
The proposal was put forth by Eko, a non-profit advocacy that campaigns to hold corporations accountable on social issues. The details of the vote were tweeted by the Internet Freedom Foundation, which has been campaigning alongside Eko to raise awareness on Proposal 7 in India.
Internet Freedom Foundation, part of the campaign vowed to carry on the fight for accountability.
Voting on Proposal 7 took place a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, as per the preliminary voting outcomes, the vote was not in favour of Proposal 7. This is a loss for Indian users of @Meta’s platforms, but our fight for transparency & accountability from Meta does not end here.
— Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) (@internetfreedom) May 31, 2023
The Proposal also outlined how, content moderation in India is undercut by poor capacity of Meta’s “misinformation classifiers” (algorithms) and its human moderators to recognize many of India’s 22 officially recognized languages," the proposal had said.
It is however noteworthy that the Meta's board had already recommended shareholders to vote against the proposal, citing that the company already has been undertaking efforts to address these.
“The requested report is unnecessary and would not provide additional benefit to our shareholders," it had said in a proxy statement prior to the AGM
In close to four decades as a journalist and civil rights activist working across India, I have witnessed my fair share of religious polarisation and attendant violence. In this period, I have covered the Bombay-Bhiwandi communal violence of 1984, seen and witnessed from afar the anti-Sikh pogrom in New Delhi in 1984, the Bombay Riots of 1993, in which over 900 people (mostly Muslims) were killed and the 2002 Gujrat Pogrom, in which over 2000 people (again, predominantly Muslims), the Muzaffarnagar violence 2013 communal flare-ups in Malegaon, Nasik, Dhule and Akola over the years, among others. The experience of on-ground coverage of communal violence has its lessons for the reporter that unfortunately escape today’s television studio based and social media driven journalism. The non--negotiables: visit the spot of the conflict, talk to all sides despite the mental and physical borders constructed by society and state, do not rely on police tweets, press releases and versions; watch out for the pre-violence outbreak rumour, hate mongering through speech and writing.
Who cast the first stone is a time-tested journalistic ethic developed by me through this hard experience, buffeted by the findings of three dozen or more judicial commission reports appointed to Inquire into bouts of Communal Violence since the 1960s, all overseen by sitting and retired senior judges that I have closely studied. The learning: hate speech plays a crucial role in escalating the conflict, provocative words and writing and through their systemic use and dissemination, stigmatization carefully nurses a social atmosphere conducive to the outbreak of targeted violence. The majority, made complicit by this hate-mongering stays silent, the police infected by this steady dose of prejudicial ideas, manipulated histories and verbally violent stigmatization, fails to act to protect lives, in a more acute stage of complicity even participates in the violence.
Yet nothing in my lived experience quite prepared me for the scale of hatred against Muslims (and Christians, even Dalits and Women) that has been unleashed after Narendra Modi, of the majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected as Prime Minister in 2014, and especially since his re-election in 2019. Islamophobia, and other anti-minorities hate has not only become “the new normal” in the New India, we see empirical evidence of this everyday as our teams at Citizens for Justice and Peace monitor and document in a series of reports, as part of our campaign “Hate Hatao.” Hate generation through unchecked alogrithms on social media, especially Meta Facebook with 314 million users in India has made the amplification seriously threatening.
Hate is today a State Project in India where the political formation in power, its vigilante organisations & brown shirts are mentally and physically armed through hate propaganda to violently harm religious minorities, women, Dalits targets. Prejudiced Ideas, Acts of Prejudice, Discrimination, Violence – four stages prior to Genocide—have been breached.
Hateful rhetoric against Muslims most particularly –though the Christian minority, Dalits, Women and other Sexual minorities are far from immune--is broadcast through various channels: Whatsapp forwards, television shows, digital media, political rallies, even some newspaper articles authored by votaries of an altered nation state, proponents of a theocratic autocracy (Hindu Rashtra). A notable change in the editorial pages of print media is the column space given to these “ideologues”, space that affords them a legitimacy in the Indian media and public spectrum. Never mind that the articulation of such an altered state is also anti-Constitutional. By far the most significant outlet for hate speech is social media, in particular, are arguably Facebook and WhatsApp, both platforms that are owned by Meta Inc. Though Musk-owned Twitter and other newer versions are fast catching up!
The women and girls of India’s largest minority have been a debasing target –through 2021 and 2022--through twitter accounts, Github and Clubhouse platforms where the macabre and shameful phenomenon of their auctions has taken place. A Radio Silence from the political leadership in power in New Delhi through all of this clearly signifies consent. Hate Crimes therefore enjoy a high level of impunity. That Facebook can be a participant-platform for this escalation up the genocidal pyramid is both shocking & unacceptable.
Between 1983 when I first began as a reporter of conflict and now, the change is marked. Social media platforms and digital media is the new reality. Both reach a far wider audience that traditional media outlets like newspapers and television. Which is to also say that allow a far wider number of people to both access and—importantly—produce content than mainstream media. India today has over 314 million Facebook users, by far the largest of any country in the world, and over twice of the next largest, the United States, which has 175 million users. This makes social media platforms the ideal medium through which hate-mongering Hindu supremacist politicians and activists can gain a following. To create a political constituency for majoritarianism manipulate FB and create multipliers through content.
Many members of the BJP, its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and dozens of the spawn outfits that are created with multiple identities (Sakal Hindu Samaj, Hindu Jan Jagruti Sena, Ram Sene are just a few) have spoken candidly about the importance of the use of social media to Hindutva organising and mobilisation.
Some quick examples: In October 2018 we complained to Ms. Ankhi Das, the Public Policy Director, India, South & Central Asia, Facebook about the vandalisation of a Church in Varanasi, St. Thomas Church in the prime minister’s parliamentary constituency, by extremists, some of whom had also previously posted --on Facebook --inflammatory content targeting the Christian community. We received no response.
In 2019, our HateWatch programme had analysed how one elected official of the influential ruling BJP party from a state in the south, Telangana amplified a rumour and added his own hate-filled speech on Facebook where he had half a million viewers. A year earlier, he had called for a vicious economic boycott of “terrorist Kashmiris” during the Amarnath Yatra on a video that has been viewed 3,00,000 times. Finally, he was the central figure flagged in the August 2020 WSJ Report on how the corporation ignored hate speech by BJP leaders in India to protect its business interests. Welcome to T Raja Singh.
By March 2021, when FB finally concluded that he, Raja Singh, had, in fact, violated its own Community standards (Objectionable Content) and Violence and Criminal Behaviour rules, he was finally removed from FB. His Fan Pages with 2,19,430 and another with 17,018 followers, however continue to operate and generate provocative content.
Today, Raja Singh, “suspended” MLA of the ruling BJP has re-emerged in a new on-ground avatar, as one of the latest poster boys of hate for the ruling regime, spreading his venom across the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan. In Maharashtra where the regime faces a tough electoral contest next year (general elections May 2024, state assembly elections Aug-September 2024) he has addressed seven gatherings and has four FIRs against him, in Rajasthan he has one. For his vituperative election speech, CJP has filed a complaint with the state election commission that has been forwarded for further action. Another is Sudarshan News’s notorious Suresh Chavhanke.
Truly emboldened by an all round immunity that he, this “suspended” MLA enjoys, in May 2023, T. Raja Singh, who has in his earlier speeches called for violence against Muslims on multiple occasions, declared the following to an audience in Kota, Rajasthan:
“I want to tell Prime Minister Modi and other ministers that now, no one can stop us from establishing a Hindu nation. India will be an undivided Hindu nation. Through social media, we have to ensure that this message reaches PM Modi. We have to make sure this reaches those Ministers of India that are secular so that they know that secularism will not work in India it will not work in Rajasthan. Now, only the rule of Hindus and Hinduvta will be there.”
In other words, Singh was calling on his followers to take to social media and ask the prime minister to establish a Hindu ethnocracy in India. That an elected member of the legislature, who takes oath under the Constitution to abide by its republican and inclusive principles, is turning to social media to advance his agenda speaks volumes about the important role it plays in Hindutva mobilisation.
Similar stark examples around the Delhi 2020 violence in the capital, Delhi abound. Among these, the Ragini Towari (“kill or die” call), Kapil Mishra, Anjali Verma shrill use of social media, all show that it is the unchecked use of Facebook in non-English languages that is instrumental in the spill and spiral of targeted of violence on the streets. Facebook Inc has formally responded to two complaints sent by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) against hate content made by Ragini Tiwari, stating that they are not in a position to take any action against Tiwari. Instead, Facebook suggested that CJP contact the party directly to get a resolution on the issue! Then there is also a serial hate offender, Deepak Sharma who Facebook is extremely reluctant to disengage with: we developed a detailed profile of his activities and character through Facebook. We complained, brought it up in writing and at round-tables. With thousands of followers he still enjoys space on the platform.
Four years before the genocidal call to kill Muslims was made by him in December 2021 which led to a spurt of outrage among some Indians and even some movement in the hate speech case in the Supreme Court, we had been steadily tracking, documenting, reporting and complaining about the man at the centre of the genocidal hate story, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, pointing out the eco-system of hate he has created. During this painstaking process, in November 2018, four years before the genocidal call to kill Muslims was made by him in December 2021, when a CJP member complained about his FB post where he said Hindus should be armed 24X7 to protect their religion and that Islam is cancer, we were told by FB India that this does not go against their community standards but if we have an issue we can either block YATI or unfollow his page.
In short, we have tried to engage however and whenever given the chance, have had detailed correspondences, have offered more than a dozen and a half of minute case studies and many, more complaints that, have unfortunately resulted in unsatisfactory results. All this work has also been at a risk and cost as the government targeted us venomously.
Where lies the stumbling block?
Despite the FB mega corporation’s own set standards against public safety, hate speech, violence, discrimination, is that Facebook India fails to take cognisance of the local context of supremacist and communally charged politics. Comprehending the difference between hate speech and free speech requires a candid engagement with an understanding of India’s diversity and India’s track record of vicious, targeted communal violence. Allowing such hate content on Facebook also legitimises such content that, even courts have –albeit slowly --recognised.
Facebook’s automated filters which are supposed to filter hate speeches too, falter in India in the non-English languages: Any user can today search for hate content through a handful of 'key words', which Facebook does not filter out. (words or terms like “Kattar Hindu” (rigid or fanatical Hindu) पंचर पुत्र पंचर छाप, मुल्ले, मुल्ला, कटुआ, हलाला, हलाला की औलाद, बाबर की औलाद which are particular derogatory/slang terms devised simply escape all filters. (“Panchar”(slang/derogatory term for Muslims who work in automobile garages). In fact there are individuals, groups and pages with the ID Kattar Hindu, they have hundreds of thousands of followers. These. can be found on FB, WhatsApp, Twitter. By the way, all such usage is also violative of Indian Law and Jurisprudence, international law and conventions including the UN’s 2019 Call against Xenophobia and Hate Speech and the 2011 UN Guiding Principle on Business & Human Rights
This then is the other major reason that social media is central to the spread of Islamophobic hate speech is that companies like Meta have been egregiously lax in moderating content on their platforms. At CJP, we have documented [1] numerous instances of “viral” Islamophobic content on Facebook and WhatsApp that was not taken down, despite violating Meta’s own content moderation regulations, which explicitly debar any speech that vilifies a particular community.
Why is it that Meta tolerates hate speech on its platform? Partly, this is because the company has not invested in content moderation for its India operations, which means that much of the posts published in the country are not properly vetted, especially those in regional languages. At the same time, Meta has faced repeated allegations that its Indian staffers are sympathetic towards the BJP and its agenda and are thus turning a blind eye towards Islamophobic content. This came to the fore during the 2020 Delhi riots, when a video of a Hindu religious leader openly calling for “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims was shared widely on various Meta platforms, and was not taken down, despite numerous reports[2] .
I have mentioned just a few examples. Every day that Hindutva supremacists take to Facebook and WhatsApp to post inflammatory and violent posts targeting Muslims. They do this because they are confident that Meta will not hold them accountable. In effect, then, Meta has created a public space where Islamophobia can flourish with impunity. Indian civil society groups like CJP, Alt News, Hate Speech Beda (based in Karnataka), and others have dedicated significant resources to flagging and reporting hate speech on Meta’s platforms. But these actions can only go so far—indeed, our actions will always be inadequate—until Meta itself takes responsibility for its India platforms. At the end of the day, the company has far greater power than any groups or individuals.
For all these reasons, it is a very significant marker that tomorrow, May 31, hate speech on Meta’s India platforms will be on the agenda at the company’s annual general board meeting. “Proposal 7”—one of thirteen proposals that will be discussed at the meeting—presents the evidence against Meta for spreading Islamophobic hate speech, its inadequate content moderation, and the general lack of transparency around the company’s practices. The shareholders who are attending the meeting have a great opportunity to pressure to act to uphold the rights of Indian Muslims and hold Hindu hate speech mongers to account. . Notably, out of the 13 proposals being put to vote, this is the only one that relates to India, and to the inbuilt bias in AI. Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices.
This campaign, jointly launched by Ekō, India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), aims to raise awareness about Proposal 7 among users of Meta platforms, the relevant concerns highlighted in the proposal, and urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7 by May 31. As part of the campaign, IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till May 31, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively.
The Meta leadership might not care what Indian civil society groups think, but it certainly cares about the opinion of its shareholders.
This piece then ends with an unorthodox appeal from a senior journalist: We call on them to vote YES on Prop 7.
This article first appeared in the print and online The Telegraph edition on May 31, 2023
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Meta's upcoming AGM & global calls for accountability against hate in India: Voting on Proposal 7
Meta (Facebook) is set to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 31. Among several proposals to be discussed and voted upon on May 31, Proposal 7 and the outcome of the vote bear significance for the Indian audience. Notably, out of the 13 proposals being put to vote, this is the only one that relates to India, and to bias in AI.
Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices.
This campaign, jointly launched by Ekō, India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), aims to raise awareness about Proposal 7 among users of Meta platforms, the relevant concerns highlighted in the proposal, and urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7 by May 31. As part of the campaign, IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till May 31, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively. Citizens for Justice & Peace (https://cjp.org.in/hate-hatao) campaign has formed the basis for much of the intervention analyses and report.
New Delhi, May 26, 2023: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and other widely used platforms, is set to hold its AGM on May 31. Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and largest shareholder (13.4%), Mark Zukerberg, senior executives, 9 members of Meta’s Board, and other members of the leadership team will be in attendance at the AGM. Other large shareholders are asset managers Vanguard with 6.9% share, BlackRock with 5.8% share, and Fidelity with 4.7% share. While Zuckerberg is not only the largest shareholder, he controls Meta with 61.9% of all votes thanks to super-voting shares.
Amidst the various proposals to be discussed, Proposal 7 tackles the critical issue of how Meta handles content regulation in India, a matter with profound implications for our society. It delves into the concerning role played by Meta's platforms in disseminating hate speech, fostering divisions, and even instigating real-world violence. Ekō, ICWI, and IFF, have jointly launched a campaign to increase awareness among Meta shareholders and Meta users about the upcoming Meeting and Proposal 7. The initiative has called on shareholders to vote 'Yes' on Proposal 7 by May 31.
Glass Lewis, a leading advisory service, which manages more than 40 trillion in assets, as well as provides institutional investors with guidance on resolutions has recommended shareholders vote ‘Yes’ on the proposal. For years, Glass Lewis has brought Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) expertise and analysis across approximately 100 global markets.
This proposal and the outcome of the vote bear significance for the Indian audience. During the 2020 Delhi riots, Facebook faced numerous allegations that hate speech spread on the platform had fueled the violence. In another incident, Facebook's role in the communal riots which erupted in Delhi was investigated, after a video of a religious leader openly calling for 'ethnic cleansing' was shared widely on various Meta platforms.
Of particular concern is Meta's consistently disappointing approach in such instances. Rather than promptly addressing divisive content, they have prioritised potential business interests over removing a source of hate speech, arguing that the latter could negatively impact their business in India.
Reports also indicate that Facebook may have allowed political parties to promote surrogate advertisements to boost their visibility. Furthermore, the content moderation system, which serves as our defence against hate speech, is ineffective in handling India's diverse range of official languages.
Accusations have surfaced from individuals across the political spectrum over the years, with the most significant impact often affecting those without power. While social networks enable users to exercise their right to free expression, a goal worth protecting, we are frequently confronted with the harms they cause. This calls for systemic fixes and genuine accountability in a transparent, proportional, and certain manner.
Teesta Setalvad, senior activist and participant in Meta’s Human Right Impact Assessment said, "At Citizens for Justice and Peace we have used every method available to track and report hate speech that is so harmful to our society. Social media, and the particular algorithm of Meta in India has made everything worse. It has given a megaphone to the worst elements in our society, and further disempowered institutional mechanisms to hold them to account. It is with good faith that we participated in the Human Rights Impact Assessment and are extremely disappointed in Meta's response. Not only was the report not made public, there has been absolutely no change based on our suggestions. India is the only country that has been subject to this degree of lack of transparency. This double standard needs to stop. Indian users of Meta are subjected to viral hate speech fed by its biased algorithms, while American users of Meta have checks and balances engineered to protect its users from the same thing. We urge the shareholders of Meta to use this opportunity to vote yes on Resolution 7."
Apar Gupta, Founding Director of IFF, expressed disappointment over Meta's failure to fulfil its obligations to shareholders and the Indian republic, stating, "Today, a crisis affects Meta's reputation, operations, ESG commitments, and, ultimately, its investments. Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp with a rising teleconnectivity are used by most, if not all Indians with internet connections. The widespread use of these social platforms by its very nature bears the weight of social responsibility by Meta, in the company’s largest market.”
Ekō has submitted a shareholder proposal that demands that Meta commission a non-partisan assessment of these allegations and disclose the results in a report to investors. The assessment would evaluate political biases, content management capabilities, and the effectiveness of mechanisms in combating hate speech and disinformation. Meta has failed to publish the full report of the Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) for India which leads to concerns about Meta stifling transparency and accountability. Further, the four page summary on India’s assessment published in Meta’s first annual Human Rights Report is not reflective of the inputs provided by several civil society organisations who participated in the assessment.
Meta’s Board has already cast the Proposal in an unfavourable light, stating their justification for such limited and insufficient disclosure as necessary to mitigate security risks for Meta’s employees. The Board of Directors, have thus, recommended that shareholders vote against this proposal.
To prevent the misuse of platforms for divisive agendas, the civil society organisations including IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till the day of the meeting, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively. Campaigners will use the hashtag #VoteYesonProposal7 on social media to encourage shareholders to #VoteForABetterMeta. As an introduction to the campaign, IFF has published this video to further raise awareness among shareholders and users.
About Ekō: Ekō is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. They wish to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy.
About ICWI: ICWI is a non-sectarian left diasporic membership-based organisation that represents the diversity of India’s people and anchors a transnational network to building radical democracy in India.
About IFF: IFF is a digital rights advocacy organisation registered as a public charitable trust which aims to ensure that technology respects and furthers the fundamental rights of internet users in India. We work across a wide spectrum of issues, with expertise in free speech, electronic surveillance, data protection, net neutrality and innovation.
Related:
Is Facebook shirking responsibility for enabling the spread of hate in India?
A social media account that promotes Hindu supremacy and fear mongering
Meta's upcoming AGM & global calls for accountability against hate in India: Voting on Proposal 7
Meta (Facebook) is set to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on May 31. Among several proposals to be discussed and voted upon on May 31, Proposal 7 and the outcome of the vote bear significance for the Indian audience. Notably, out of the 13 proposals being put to vote, this is the only one that relates to India, and to bias in AI.
Proposal 7 titled “Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta's Largest Market” is to be presented at Meta's AGM on May 31, 2023. It highlights allegations against Facebook for disseminating hate speech, its failure to address risks and political bias, voices concerns around inadequate content moderation and lack of transparency in platform practices.
This campaign, jointly launched by Ekō, India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), aims to raise awareness about Proposal 7 among users of Meta platforms, the relevant concerns highlighted in the proposal, and urge the shareholders to vote in favour of Proposal 7 by May 31. As part of the campaign, IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till May 31, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively. Citizens for Justice & Peace (https://cjp.org.in/hate-hatao) campaign has formed the basis for much of the intervention analyses and report.
New Delhi, May 26, 2023: Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and other widely used platforms, is set to hold its AGM on May 31. Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and largest shareholder (13.4%), Mark Zukerberg, senior executives, 9 members of Meta’s Board, and other members of the leadership team will be in attendance at the AGM. Other large shareholders are asset managers Vanguard with 6.9% share, BlackRock with 5.8% share, and Fidelity with 4.7% share. While Zuckerberg is not only the largest shareholder, he controls Meta with 61.9% of all votes thanks to super-voting shares.
Amidst the various proposals to be discussed, Proposal 7 tackles the critical issue of how Meta handles content regulation in India, a matter with profound implications for our society. It delves into the concerning role played by Meta's platforms in disseminating hate speech, fostering divisions, and even instigating real-world violence. Ekō, ICWI, and IFF, have jointly launched a campaign to increase awareness among Meta shareholders and Meta users about the upcoming Meeting and Proposal 7. The initiative has called on shareholders to vote 'Yes' on Proposal 7 by May 31.
Glass Lewis, a leading advisory service, which manages more than 40 trillion in assets, as well as provides institutional investors with guidance on resolutions has recommended shareholders vote ‘Yes’ on the proposal. For years, Glass Lewis has brought Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) expertise and analysis across approximately 100 global markets.
This proposal and the outcome of the vote bear significance for the Indian audience. During the 2020 Delhi riots, Facebook faced numerous allegations that hate speech spread on the platform had fueled the violence. In another incident, Facebook's role in the communal riots which erupted in Delhi was investigated, after a video of a religious leader openly calling for 'ethnic cleansing' was shared widely on various Meta platforms.
Of particular concern is Meta's consistently disappointing approach in such instances. Rather than promptly addressing divisive content, they have prioritised potential business interests over removing a source of hate speech, arguing that the latter could negatively impact their business in India.
Reports also indicate that Facebook may have allowed political parties to promote surrogate advertisements to boost their visibility. Furthermore, the content moderation system, which serves as our defence against hate speech, is ineffective in handling India's diverse range of official languages.
Accusations have surfaced from individuals across the political spectrum over the years, with the most significant impact often affecting those without power. While social networks enable users to exercise their right to free expression, a goal worth protecting, we are frequently confronted with the harms they cause. This calls for systemic fixes and genuine accountability in a transparent, proportional, and certain manner.
Teesta Setalvad, senior activist and participant in Meta’s Human Right Impact Assessment said, "At Citizens for Justice and Peace we have used every method available to track and report hate speech that is so harmful to our society. Social media, and the particular algorithm of Meta in India has made everything worse. It has given a megaphone to the worst elements in our society, and further disempowered institutional mechanisms to hold them to account. It is with good faith that we participated in the Human Rights Impact Assessment and are extremely disappointed in Meta's response. Not only was the report not made public, there has been absolutely no change based on our suggestions. India is the only country that has been subject to this degree of lack of transparency. This double standard needs to stop. Indian users of Meta are subjected to viral hate speech fed by its biased algorithms, while American users of Meta have checks and balances engineered to protect its users from the same thing. We urge the shareholders of Meta to use this opportunity to vote yes on Resolution 7."
Apar Gupta, Founding Director of IFF, expressed disappointment over Meta's failure to fulfil its obligations to shareholders and the Indian republic, stating, "Today, a crisis affects Meta's reputation, operations, ESG commitments, and, ultimately, its investments. Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp with a rising teleconnectivity are used by most, if not all Indians with internet connections. The widespread use of these social platforms by its very nature bears the weight of social responsibility by Meta, in the company’s largest market.”
Ekō has submitted a shareholder proposal that demands that Meta commission a non-partisan assessment of these allegations and disclose the results in a report to investors. The assessment would evaluate political biases, content management capabilities, and the effectiveness of mechanisms in combating hate speech and disinformation. Meta has failed to publish the full report of the Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) for India which leads to concerns about Meta stifling transparency and accountability. Further, the four page summary on India’s assessment published in Meta’s first annual Human Rights Report is not reflective of the inputs provided by several civil society organisations who participated in the assessment.
Meta’s Board has already cast the Proposal in an unfavourable light, stating their justification for such limited and insufficient disclosure as necessary to mitigate security risks for Meta’s employees. The Board of Directors, have thus, recommended that shareholders vote against this proposal.
To prevent the misuse of platforms for divisive agendas, the civil society organisations including IFF will post everyday, from May 26 till the day of the meeting, highlighting instances where Meta has failed to address critical issues effectively. Campaigners will use the hashtag #VoteYesonProposal7 on social media to encourage shareholders to #VoteForABetterMeta. As an introduction to the campaign, IFF has published this video to further raise awareness among shareholders and users.
About Ekō: Ekō is a community of people from around the world committed to curbing the growing power of corporations. They wish to buy from, work for and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers well and respect democracy.
About ICWI: ICWI is a non-sectarian left diasporic membership-based organisation that represents the diversity of India’s people and anchors a transnational network to building radical democracy in India.
About IFF: IFF is a digital rights advocacy organisation registered as a public charitable trust which aims to ensure that technology respects and furthers the fundamental rights of internet users in India. We work across a wide spectrum of issues, with expertise in free speech, electronic surveillance, data protection, net neutrality and innovation.
Related:
Is Facebook shirking responsibility for enabling the spread of hate in India?
A social media account that promotes Hindu supremacy and fear mongering
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Gujarat: Kajal Hindusthani delivers two anti-Muslim speeches, urges Hindu women to take up arms
Hindusthani, who had been granted bail on April 13, called her arrest a conspiracy, alleged that the Gujarat police is biased and scared of Muslims
Kajal Singhala a.k.a Kajal Hindusthani, the golden girl of extremist right-wing groups, is back from her break and has delivered two compelling speeches centred on the goals of Hindutva while using the occasion to spew anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hindusthani, who had been away from the limelight for some weeks after being arrested by Gujarat police a week after delivering a similarly incendiary speech on March 30 on the occasion of Ram Navami in Gujarat’s Una town. The purported speech, delivered at an event organised by Shree Ramkrushna Janmotsava Samiti, had triggered communal clashes in Una at the time.
But now, the serial hate speaker is back and has given two speeches both located within the state of Gujarat. Through both the speeches, Hindusthani has majorly targeted and provoked Hindu women, urging them to take up arms to protect their dignity, their religion and their nation. As a part of our rigorous hate watch campaign, we have been diligently maintaining a record of the hate speeches being made by her on public platforms. From the pattern of her speeches, a major agenda behind her words, asking women to take the form of Goddess Kali, so that a false image of the revered Goddess combined with a perpetrated sense of insecurity from Muslim men is created in their minds, giving birth to more radicalised and provocative female leaders in like Sadhvi Rithambara and Sadhvi Pragya.
Hindusthani, a calling herself a religious leader, espouses a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, and can be seen delivering incendiary and inciteful speeches through which she has targeted the religious minorities of our country, especially the Muslim community. Her current speeches, which are majorly in Gujarati, repeat the same 3-4 poems that urge the Hindu community to take up arms because “their religion and nation requires it.” In the first speech of the recent set of two speeches, delivered in Surat city of Gujarat, the video of which had been accessed by us on May 27, she delivered another frenzy communal speech, making open calls for establishing a Hindu nation. Through her poems, she called “non-violence a delusion”, something which was not envisioned by Hindu Lords, and said that the Hindus need to be ready now as their “battlefield demands sacrifice.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Surat, Gujarat
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 27, 2023
Far-right leader and hate monger Kajal Shingala delivered another frenzy communal speech, calling for establishing a Hindu nation. She further called “non-violence a delusion” and said “battlefield demands sacrifice.” pic.twitter.com/w8rOnmhm4w
In the other speech, made in the Kutch district of Gujarat, the video of which had been accessed by us on May 28, she delivered another communal and hate-spewing speech. Creating fear and insecurity in the minds of her Hindu audience, of the decline or erasure of their Hindu culture, Hindusthani made open calls to the women to take on the responsibility of protecting the Hindu culture and themselves. Selectively bringing in the issue of the Shraddha Walker murder case (because Aftab Poonawalla the man accused of murder is a Muslim), morphed to advantage the Hindu propaganda of Love-jihad, Hindusthani urges the women to become a Shraddha that can protest herself from Aftab, the accused in the murder case. She even spoke about her case, and said that it was the conspiracy of the Muslims to “shut her mouth”. The case against her in which she has been arrested was for the crime of provoking social disharmony with the potentiality of generating violence. She then states with a brazen impunity that even getting booked and sent to judicial custody will not dissuade her as Rani Lakshmi Bai, an icon of the resistance to the Britishers, was her ancestor.
She then proceeds to spread misinformation by saying that the Gujarat police is scared of acting on the illegal and criminal acts of the Muslims, such as throwing stones and glass bottles at the Hindu community processions, alleging that the police is “scared” of them. She further said that the action taken against her was because she was a Hindu, and to make the headlines, and was the police way of justifying the criminal acts committed by the Muslim population.
She also explained that the “trap” of Love-Jihad is being spread through four mediums- Bollywood, social media, creating an environment of fear and through drugs. She states that the Muslim community agenda behind supplying drugs to every district, every city and every village of our country is to ensure that Hindus are harmed and destroyed. With the aim of ensuring that her audience does not believe any other narrative than promoted by her and her peers, she said that the words uttered and ideology promoted by the left inclined social media, communist and the opposition are all a part of the Muslim agenda, and are working from within the country to create a divide.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Kutch, Gujarat
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 28, 2023
Far-right leader Kajal Shingala delivered another hate speech targeting Muslims. pic.twitter.com/Sf3zKwDEQh
It is crucial to note that Hindusthani has been described as a “crowd puller at the local levels” by her Vishwa Hindu Parishad mentors. Thus, she uses the popular terms, and frequently raises the issue of so-called “love-jihad” — a term used to describe the alleged efforts of Muslims to convert Hindu women through marriage — along with words such as “land jihad“. Most of the times, she refer to the Muslim community as ‘Jihadis’, and ‘aatankwaadi (terrorists)’.
The arrest of Kajal Hindusthani by Gujarat Police
Kajal Hindusthani, who had been evading arrest for a week after she had been first booked for giving a hate speech at Una town in Gir Somnath district during the Ram Navami celebrations, was arrested finally on Sunday, April 9, 2023, after she surrendered at the Una town police station Sunday morning. A local court sent her to judicial custody after the police did not seek any remand. She was sent to Junagadh jail. On April 13, a Gujarat court had granted bail to Hindustani.
As per the information provided by the police, tension had built up after Hindusthani’s speech in Una as a mob of around 200 people had assembled and allegedly indulged in violence by pelting stones and glass bottles at the homes of people and passer-by’s. They had also vandalised vehicles.
Hindusthani was also booked under IPC Sections 195A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Related:
Kajal Hindustani booked by Vashi police for delivering anti-Muslim hate speech on February 26
Echoes of Hate: Concern mounts as India grapples with hate speech
Cow vigilantism continues with impunity in northern states of India
Under the guise of cow protection: reports of assault, illegal restraint against Muslims
Worsening Spiral of Communal Hate: State’s role in rising violence against minorities
Gujarat: Kajal Hindusthani delivers two anti-Muslim speeches, urges Hindu women to take up arms
Hindusthani, who had been granted bail on April 13, called her arrest a conspiracy, alleged that the Gujarat police is biased and scared of Muslims
Kajal Singhala a.k.a Kajal Hindusthani, the golden girl of extremist right-wing groups, is back from her break and has delivered two compelling speeches centred on the goals of Hindutva while using the occasion to spew anti-Muslim rhetoric. Hindusthani, who had been away from the limelight for some weeks after being arrested by Gujarat police a week after delivering a similarly incendiary speech on March 30 on the occasion of Ram Navami in Gujarat’s Una town. The purported speech, delivered at an event organised by Shree Ramkrushna Janmotsava Samiti, had triggered communal clashes in Una at the time.
But now, the serial hate speaker is back and has given two speeches both located within the state of Gujarat. Through both the speeches, Hindusthani has majorly targeted and provoked Hindu women, urging them to take up arms to protect their dignity, their religion and their nation. As a part of our rigorous hate watch campaign, we have been diligently maintaining a record of the hate speeches being made by her on public platforms. From the pattern of her speeches, a major agenda behind her words, asking women to take the form of Goddess Kali, so that a false image of the revered Goddess combined with a perpetrated sense of insecurity from Muslim men is created in their minds, giving birth to more radicalised and provocative female leaders in like Sadhvi Rithambara and Sadhvi Pragya.
Hindusthani, a calling herself a religious leader, espouses a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, and can be seen delivering incendiary and inciteful speeches through which she has targeted the religious minorities of our country, especially the Muslim community. Her current speeches, which are majorly in Gujarati, repeat the same 3-4 poems that urge the Hindu community to take up arms because “their religion and nation requires it.” In the first speech of the recent set of two speeches, delivered in Surat city of Gujarat, the video of which had been accessed by us on May 27, she delivered another frenzy communal speech, making open calls for establishing a Hindu nation. Through her poems, she called “non-violence a delusion”, something which was not envisioned by Hindu Lords, and said that the Hindus need to be ready now as their “battlefield demands sacrifice.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Surat, Gujarat
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 27, 2023
Far-right leader and hate monger Kajal Shingala delivered another frenzy communal speech, calling for establishing a Hindu nation. She further called “non-violence a delusion” and said “battlefield demands sacrifice.” pic.twitter.com/w8rOnmhm4w
In the other speech, made in the Kutch district of Gujarat, the video of which had been accessed by us on May 28, she delivered another communal and hate-spewing speech. Creating fear and insecurity in the minds of her Hindu audience, of the decline or erasure of their Hindu culture, Hindusthani made open calls to the women to take on the responsibility of protecting the Hindu culture and themselves. Selectively bringing in the issue of the Shraddha Walker murder case (because Aftab Poonawalla the man accused of murder is a Muslim), morphed to advantage the Hindu propaganda of Love-jihad, Hindusthani urges the women to become a Shraddha that can protest herself from Aftab, the accused in the murder case. She even spoke about her case, and said that it was the conspiracy of the Muslims to “shut her mouth”. The case against her in which she has been arrested was for the crime of provoking social disharmony with the potentiality of generating violence. She then states with a brazen impunity that even getting booked and sent to judicial custody will not dissuade her as Rani Lakshmi Bai, an icon of the resistance to the Britishers, was her ancestor.
She then proceeds to spread misinformation by saying that the Gujarat police is scared of acting on the illegal and criminal acts of the Muslims, such as throwing stones and glass bottles at the Hindu community processions, alleging that the police is “scared” of them. She further said that the action taken against her was because she was a Hindu, and to make the headlines, and was the police way of justifying the criminal acts committed by the Muslim population.
She also explained that the “trap” of Love-Jihad is being spread through four mediums- Bollywood, social media, creating an environment of fear and through drugs. She states that the Muslim community agenda behind supplying drugs to every district, every city and every village of our country is to ensure that Hindus are harmed and destroyed. With the aim of ensuring that her audience does not believe any other narrative than promoted by her and her peers, she said that the words uttered and ideology promoted by the left inclined social media, communist and the opposition are all a part of the Muslim agenda, and are working from within the country to create a divide.
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Kutch, Gujarat
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 28, 2023
Far-right leader Kajal Shingala delivered another hate speech targeting Muslims. pic.twitter.com/Sf3zKwDEQh
It is crucial to note that Hindusthani has been described as a “crowd puller at the local levels” by her Vishwa Hindu Parishad mentors. Thus, she uses the popular terms, and frequently raises the issue of so-called “love-jihad” — a term used to describe the alleged efforts of Muslims to convert Hindu women through marriage — along with words such as “land jihad“. Most of the times, she refer to the Muslim community as ‘Jihadis’, and ‘aatankwaadi (terrorists)’.
The arrest of Kajal Hindusthani by Gujarat Police
Kajal Hindusthani, who had been evading arrest for a week after she had been first booked for giving a hate speech at Una town in Gir Somnath district during the Ram Navami celebrations, was arrested finally on Sunday, April 9, 2023, after she surrendered at the Una town police station Sunday morning. A local court sent her to judicial custody after the police did not seek any remand. She was sent to Junagadh jail. On April 13, a Gujarat court had granted bail to Hindustani.
As per the information provided by the police, tension had built up after Hindusthani’s speech in Una as a mob of around 200 people had assembled and allegedly indulged in violence by pelting stones and glass bottles at the homes of people and passer-by’s. They had also vandalised vehicles.
Hindusthani was also booked under IPC Sections 195A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Related:
Kajal Hindustani booked by Vashi police for delivering anti-Muslim hate speech on February 26
Echoes of Hate: Concern mounts as India grapples with hate speech
Cow vigilantism continues with impunity in northern states of India
Under the guise of cow protection: reports of assault, illegal restraint against Muslims
Worsening Spiral of Communal Hate: State’s role in rising violence against minorities
Related Articles
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Another hate speech delivered demanding to change names of Babur and Humayun road in Delhi
Chavhanke engages in hate speech just a few day days before the inauguration of new Parliament House, causes disharmony
Hate monger and serial hate speaker Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, delivered yet another communal speech. Chavhanke, who is known for giving speeches and making statements that are communal, divisive, incendiary and amount to hate speeches, with the knowledge that such incendiary remarks would have the propensity to stoke tensions inter se persons belonging to certain communities, and also would directly instigate violence, as has been happening in the recent times, pitted the Hindus against the Muslims again. Choosing Noida, Uttar Pradesh as his hotspot this time, he raised open calls for the Hindus to keep swords on them, and raise arms against the Muslim community.
In his speech, Chavhanke has openly threated to use force and violence against the minorities in order to make India an undivided Hindu nation. He also urged the government to change the name of the streets in Delhi and rename them to Hindu leaders. It is essential to note here that on March 19, in Maharashtra, when Aurangabad had been renamed as Sambhajinagar, Suresh Chavhanke, along with T. Raja Singh, had given hate speeches which has resulted in the rampant destruction of public property and pelting of stones. Many Islamophobic statement were made and anti-Muslim slurs were used. Notably, FIRs had also been filed against these two. And yet, Almost 2 months later, a hate speech on the similar script has been given by Chavhanke, demanding for more names to be changed, inciting the public for more violence.
The transcript of the fill speech can be read here:
The speech:
“In India, elections will only take place 3 or 4 more times, for 15 years or for 20 years, elections are not an option after that.”
“In the last 75 years, we have seen roads named after Babur, Humanyun, etc., will these remain the same in the future? A new parliament house has been made, the names of these roads should also be changed to Maharana Pratap road, Prithviraj Chauhan road, Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj road, Sambhaji Maharaj road.”
“So many villages and districts still have Islami names, who will change them? Yogi changed the name to Prayagraj, giving a nod to the .name changings, but people need to do it on a district level too. If you don’t change the name now, then in any case the names of the Hindu towns and villages will be changed in 20 years. So, while the time is on our side, we should make name changing an agenda.”
“Today, Akbar is taking away our daughters, what are we doing? They are breaking our temples on a daily basis. If Maharana Pratap were here, would they be able to break our temples? If Maharana Pratap were there, would there be a mosque on Mathura-Janmabhoomi. On our Mahadev mandir, we made such a big corridor, but we have not even been able to worship our Lord.”
“In Kashi, where the Pm of India, the Chief Minister of the state, and many devotees like me, go to worship, do you know that it is an imitation and the real shivling is buried in Gyanvapi? Even as we celebrate the 75th year of Independence, in this Amrit Kaal, I will only think of it as complete independence when the 4.5 lakh temples that are beneath the mosques are freed.”
“In Devbandh, in Mathura, the Muslims there were not letting us Hindus celebrate the birth anniversary of Krishna. The Hindus there then said that we should call Suresh Chavhanke, then these Muslims will shut up. The Hindus there called me, and at 12 am, we celebrated Krishna Jayanti, and no one’s Abu had the audacity to stop us from celebrating it.”
“The result was that the next day, 28 Chauhan Muslim families came to meet me. They said to me that we watch you on TV, we are Chauhan just as you are. They also told me that nobody is inviting us to speak, our coming generations are not even using the Chauhan name in their surnames. They said that in the Madrasas these children are studying in, the characteristic of their children is being changed. They said that they want protect the culture of their children, and they must be converted to Hindus.”
“I told these people to come to me, and I spoke to them, then performed Ghar-wapasi with them. We also got them houses. If we don’t do this, we won’t be saved.”
“The children performed a very good play before us. But, these children of Rajput’s are playing with toy swords, what can be sadder than this. I want to urge everyone that just like Sikhs have been given the right to keep kripans with them, Kshatriyas should also be allowed to keep swords with them.”
“Today, someone named Razia Sultana is here. I want to apologise to her that you still have to write your name as Razia Sultana, and have not been able to write it as Radha. This is our weakness, and I want to apologise for this.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 24, 2023
Hate monger Suresh Chavhanke delivers another communal speech; calls on Hindus to keep swords. pic.twitter.com/1eKOd2Ryyl
Every word uttered by Suresh Chavhanke is offensive for the Muslim community and instigation for the Hindu community. It is imperative that strict and stringent action be taken against Chavhanke, holding him responsible for the inflammatory statements and to prevent any act of incidents of violence before or after the inauguration of the new parliament.
Related:
Tushar Bhosale aggressive face of Trimbakeshwar conflict, convener of BJP “spiritual wing”
T. Raja Singh, a BJP MLA with a history of communal speeches, delivers another anti-Muslim speech
Another hate speech delivered demanding to change names of Babur and Humayun road in Delhi
Chavhanke engages in hate speech just a few day days before the inauguration of new Parliament House, causes disharmony
Hate monger and serial hate speaker Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, delivered yet another communal speech. Chavhanke, who is known for giving speeches and making statements that are communal, divisive, incendiary and amount to hate speeches, with the knowledge that such incendiary remarks would have the propensity to stoke tensions inter se persons belonging to certain communities, and also would directly instigate violence, as has been happening in the recent times, pitted the Hindus against the Muslims again. Choosing Noida, Uttar Pradesh as his hotspot this time, he raised open calls for the Hindus to keep swords on them, and raise arms against the Muslim community.
In his speech, Chavhanke has openly threated to use force and violence against the minorities in order to make India an undivided Hindu nation. He also urged the government to change the name of the streets in Delhi and rename them to Hindu leaders. It is essential to note here that on March 19, in Maharashtra, when Aurangabad had been renamed as Sambhajinagar, Suresh Chavhanke, along with T. Raja Singh, had given hate speeches which has resulted in the rampant destruction of public property and pelting of stones. Many Islamophobic statement were made and anti-Muslim slurs were used. Notably, FIRs had also been filed against these two. And yet, Almost 2 months later, a hate speech on the similar script has been given by Chavhanke, demanding for more names to be changed, inciting the public for more violence.
The transcript of the fill speech can be read here:
The speech:
“In India, elections will only take place 3 or 4 more times, for 15 years or for 20 years, elections are not an option after that.”
“In the last 75 years, we have seen roads named after Babur, Humanyun, etc., will these remain the same in the future? A new parliament house has been made, the names of these roads should also be changed to Maharana Pratap road, Prithviraj Chauhan road, Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj road, Sambhaji Maharaj road.”
“So many villages and districts still have Islami names, who will change them? Yogi changed the name to Prayagraj, giving a nod to the .name changings, but people need to do it on a district level too. If you don’t change the name now, then in any case the names of the Hindu towns and villages will be changed in 20 years. So, while the time is on our side, we should make name changing an agenda.”
“Today, Akbar is taking away our daughters, what are we doing? They are breaking our temples on a daily basis. If Maharana Pratap were here, would they be able to break our temples? If Maharana Pratap were there, would there be a mosque on Mathura-Janmabhoomi. On our Mahadev mandir, we made such a big corridor, but we have not even been able to worship our Lord.”
“In Kashi, where the Pm of India, the Chief Minister of the state, and many devotees like me, go to worship, do you know that it is an imitation and the real shivling is buried in Gyanvapi? Even as we celebrate the 75th year of Independence, in this Amrit Kaal, I will only think of it as complete independence when the 4.5 lakh temples that are beneath the mosques are freed.”
“In Devbandh, in Mathura, the Muslims there were not letting us Hindus celebrate the birth anniversary of Krishna. The Hindus there then said that we should call Suresh Chavhanke, then these Muslims will shut up. The Hindus there called me, and at 12 am, we celebrated Krishna Jayanti, and no one’s Abu had the audacity to stop us from celebrating it.”
“The result was that the next day, 28 Chauhan Muslim families came to meet me. They said to me that we watch you on TV, we are Chauhan just as you are. They also told me that nobody is inviting us to speak, our coming generations are not even using the Chauhan name in their surnames. They said that in the Madrasas these children are studying in, the characteristic of their children is being changed. They said that they want protect the culture of their children, and they must be converted to Hindus.”
“I told these people to come to me, and I spoke to them, then performed Ghar-wapasi with them. We also got them houses. If we don’t do this, we won’t be saved.”
“The children performed a very good play before us. But, these children of Rajput’s are playing with toy swords, what can be sadder than this. I want to urge everyone that just like Sikhs have been given the right to keep kripans with them, Kshatriyas should also be allowed to keep swords with them.”
“Today, someone named Razia Sultana is here. I want to apologise to her that you still have to write your name as Razia Sultana, and have not been able to write it as Radha. This is our weakness, and I want to apologise for this.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 24, 2023
Hate monger Suresh Chavhanke delivers another communal speech; calls on Hindus to keep swords. pic.twitter.com/1eKOd2Ryyl
Every word uttered by Suresh Chavhanke is offensive for the Muslim community and instigation for the Hindu community. It is imperative that strict and stringent action be taken against Chavhanke, holding him responsible for the inflammatory statements and to prevent any act of incidents of violence before or after the inauguration of the new parliament.
Related:
Tushar Bhosale aggressive face of Trimbakeshwar conflict, convener of BJP “spiritual wing”
T. Raja Singh, a BJP MLA with a history of communal speeches, delivers another anti-Muslim speech
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T. Raja Singh, a BJP MLA with a history of communal speeches, delivers another anti-Muslim speech
During his speech in Kota, Singh did not even leave Maharana Pratap's history alone, instead using it to justify violence.
UPDATE:
As per media reports, a new case has been filed against T. Raja Singh in Kota where he addressed a huge gathering coinciding with the Shaurya Vahan rally and Swabhiman Sabha meeting held on the occasion of Maharana Pratap Jayanti at Kota in Rajasthan.
The complainant accused him of using vocabulary that “disturbed religious harmony.” The Kunhadi police station registered a case under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and Section 298 (uttering, words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code.
BJP MLA T. Raja Singh, a notorious hate speaker representing the Goshamahal constituency of Hyderabad, has delivered another hate speech in Kota, Rajasthan. A politician with many criminal cases against him has now targeted the state of Rajasthan to spread his communal hatred and an exclusionist ideology against the Muslim community. Singh, who has not shied away from attacking the Muslim community openly in the past too, and has even threatened to behead those who oppose the Ram Mandir and "bulldoze" those who did not vote for Yogi Adityanath in the Uttar Pradesh state election in February 2022, has now targeted the community under the right wing promoted farce of Love-Jihad. Since Singh has previously been involvement in communal clashes and hate speeches across most states, his deliverance this provocative and instigating speech in the state of Rajasthan, which has its elections later this year, comes as no surprise.
In this said speech, a full transcript of which has been provided below, the speaker made misinformed, provocative and offensive claims against the minority community, its history and their culture. Singh invoked the history of Rajasthan and Maharana Pratap, and moulded it to deem Muslims as the enemies of the state. As the state of Rajasthan is seeing communal clashes regularly, these words that have been uttered by Singh have added more fuel to the fire. Singh also used the whole agenda of “protecting our Hindu daughter and sisters” to justify committing violence against the Muslim community.
The full transcript of the speech is as follows:
The speech:
“If you want to kill a “Love-Jihadi”, then get associated with Bajrang Dal.”
“I want to tell Prime Minister Modi and other ministers that now, no one can stop us from establishing a Hindu nation. India will be an undivided Hindu nation. Through social media, we have to ensure that this message reaches PM Modi. We have to make sure this reaches those Ministers of India that are secular so that they know that secularism will not work in India it will not work in Rajasthan. Now, only the rule of Hindus and Hinduvta will be there. All hail Mother India.”
“In that time, there was only one Akbar, and now, in every nook and corner, I can see multiple illegal children of Akbar roaming around. We have no problems with you, no enmity with you. But, if you people even dare to raise your eyes to look at our sisters and daughters, then we will speak the same language as you, and do things in the way that are understandable to you.”
“That day is not far when Bageshwar Dham and Dhirendra Rashtra ji will make India a Hindu nation. Our India will be an undivided Hindu nation soon enough.”
“This year, during Ram Navami, we have set a record. More than 10 lakh supporter had gathered from the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, and a new record was set. From whichever region the Shobha Yatra had crossed, no “topi-wallah” could be seen there. This show of strength was visible in Hyderabad, can this came strength not be witnessed in Rajasthan, which is a land of fighters?”
“Modi ji, the traffic in our state is increasing, as well as the traffic in our country. The number of car puncture fixers is increasing while the number of cars are staying the same. While ‘Hum doh humare doh’ is a good policy, but we need to ensure that it is applied everywhere so that their increasing population gets controlled?”
“On this land that belongs to fighters and veers, I want to request you all fighters that if you see anyone who says anything against our religion or our country, they should be given a befitting reply.”
“Recently, a movie named ‘The Kerala Story’ has been released. How many of you watched that movie? So many of you have still not watched that movie. I urge you all to watch that movie, but do not watch it alone, watch it with your family. What happened in that movie? Is love-jihad not happening in our Rajasthan? In that movie it was told how 32,000 women were trapped in fake love and then converted. Now think, 32,000 women must have filed their complaints and that is why there is data on it, so many must have not even filed a complaint and have not been counted at all.”
“The trap of PFI has been increasing throughout India. Hindu woman are not only in threat due to Abdul, but also from black clothes donning Ayesha. We should teach our daughters to maintain distance from these people in colleges, hostels, and workplaces.”
“Be it Abdul or be it Aftab, all of these people have read only one book through which they are taught various types of Jihad.”
“A few days ago, I heard that the place where the war of Haldi-Ghati had been fought, an attempt has been made to destroy the statue of Maharana Pratap. Am I right? Who were these people who even dared to tough the statue of Maharana Pratap? I want to urge the government that whoever dared to touch our Maharana Pratap, they are given the highest punishment and are prosecuted at once. Or else, if the sons of Maharana Pratap gets to know who that traitor was, that traitor will suffer the same consequence as Bahlol Khan did at the hands of Maharana Pratap. ”
“Just like Maharana Pratap had fought these people, had fought Akbar, we will fight them now.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Kota, Rajasthan
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 24, 2023
T Raja Singh delivered an extremely hateful speech and openly called for violence against Muslims in police presence. pic.twitter.com/yhdQ6PVI4j
Notably, Singh has had over 100 criminal cases filed against him, and had spent 76 days in jail under preventive detention for stoking communal tensions in Hyderabad last year. In this year alone, atleast 7 FIRs have been filed against him for delivering anti-Muslim speeches and affecting the harmony of our country. Out of these 7 FIRs, 4 have been filed in the state of Maharashtra.
Related:
Akola: Muslim men fleeing homes fearing police action
CJP complaints to CP, Amravati against Sakal Hindu Samaj event, urges stringent action
T. Raja Singh, a BJP MLA with a history of communal speeches, delivers another anti-Muslim speech
During his speech in Kota, Singh did not even leave Maharana Pratap's history alone, instead using it to justify violence.
UPDATE:
As per media reports, a new case has been filed against T. Raja Singh in Kota where he addressed a huge gathering coinciding with the Shaurya Vahan rally and Swabhiman Sabha meeting held on the occasion of Maharana Pratap Jayanti at Kota in Rajasthan.
The complainant accused him of using vocabulary that “disturbed religious harmony.” The Kunhadi police station registered a case under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and Section 298 (uttering, words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code.
BJP MLA T. Raja Singh, a notorious hate speaker representing the Goshamahal constituency of Hyderabad, has delivered another hate speech in Kota, Rajasthan. A politician with many criminal cases against him has now targeted the state of Rajasthan to spread his communal hatred and an exclusionist ideology against the Muslim community. Singh, who has not shied away from attacking the Muslim community openly in the past too, and has even threatened to behead those who oppose the Ram Mandir and "bulldoze" those who did not vote for Yogi Adityanath in the Uttar Pradesh state election in February 2022, has now targeted the community under the right wing promoted farce of Love-Jihad. Since Singh has previously been involvement in communal clashes and hate speeches across most states, his deliverance this provocative and instigating speech in the state of Rajasthan, which has its elections later this year, comes as no surprise.
In this said speech, a full transcript of which has been provided below, the speaker made misinformed, provocative and offensive claims against the minority community, its history and their culture. Singh invoked the history of Rajasthan and Maharana Pratap, and moulded it to deem Muslims as the enemies of the state. As the state of Rajasthan is seeing communal clashes regularly, these words that have been uttered by Singh have added more fuel to the fire. Singh also used the whole agenda of “protecting our Hindu daughter and sisters” to justify committing violence against the Muslim community.
The full transcript of the speech is as follows:
The speech:
“If you want to kill a “Love-Jihadi”, then get associated with Bajrang Dal.”
“I want to tell Prime Minister Modi and other ministers that now, no one can stop us from establishing a Hindu nation. India will be an undivided Hindu nation. Through social media, we have to ensure that this message reaches PM Modi. We have to make sure this reaches those Ministers of India that are secular so that they know that secularism will not work in India it will not work in Rajasthan. Now, only the rule of Hindus and Hinduvta will be there. All hail Mother India.”
“In that time, there was only one Akbar, and now, in every nook and corner, I can see multiple illegal children of Akbar roaming around. We have no problems with you, no enmity with you. But, if you people even dare to raise your eyes to look at our sisters and daughters, then we will speak the same language as you, and do things in the way that are understandable to you.”
“That day is not far when Bageshwar Dham and Dhirendra Rashtra ji will make India a Hindu nation. Our India will be an undivided Hindu nation soon enough.”
“This year, during Ram Navami, we have set a record. More than 10 lakh supporter had gathered from the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, and a new record was set. From whichever region the Shobha Yatra had crossed, no “topi-wallah” could be seen there. This show of strength was visible in Hyderabad, can this came strength not be witnessed in Rajasthan, which is a land of fighters?”
“Modi ji, the traffic in our state is increasing, as well as the traffic in our country. The number of car puncture fixers is increasing while the number of cars are staying the same. While ‘Hum doh humare doh’ is a good policy, but we need to ensure that it is applied everywhere so that their increasing population gets controlled?”
“On this land that belongs to fighters and veers, I want to request you all fighters that if you see anyone who says anything against our religion or our country, they should be given a befitting reply.”
“Recently, a movie named ‘The Kerala Story’ has been released. How many of you watched that movie? So many of you have still not watched that movie. I urge you all to watch that movie, but do not watch it alone, watch it with your family. What happened in that movie? Is love-jihad not happening in our Rajasthan? In that movie it was told how 32,000 women were trapped in fake love and then converted. Now think, 32,000 women must have filed their complaints and that is why there is data on it, so many must have not even filed a complaint and have not been counted at all.”
“The trap of PFI has been increasing throughout India. Hindu woman are not only in threat due to Abdul, but also from black clothes donning Ayesha. We should teach our daughters to maintain distance from these people in colleges, hostels, and workplaces.”
“Be it Abdul or be it Aftab, all of these people have read only one book through which they are taught various types of Jihad.”
“A few days ago, I heard that the place where the war of Haldi-Ghati had been fought, an attempt has been made to destroy the statue of Maharana Pratap. Am I right? Who were these people who even dared to tough the statue of Maharana Pratap? I want to urge the government that whoever dared to touch our Maharana Pratap, they are given the highest punishment and are prosecuted at once. Or else, if the sons of Maharana Pratap gets to know who that traitor was, that traitor will suffer the same consequence as Bahlol Khan did at the hands of Maharana Pratap. ”
“Just like Maharana Pratap had fought these people, had fought Akbar, we will fight them now.”
The video can be viewed here:
Location: Kota, Rajasthan
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 24, 2023
T Raja Singh delivered an extremely hateful speech and openly called for violence against Muslims in police presence. pic.twitter.com/yhdQ6PVI4j
Notably, Singh has had over 100 criminal cases filed against him, and had spent 76 days in jail under preventive detention for stoking communal tensions in Hyderabad last year. In this year alone, atleast 7 FIRs have been filed against him for delivering anti-Muslim speeches and affecting the harmony of our country. Out of these 7 FIRs, 4 have been filed in the state of Maharashtra.
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Another hate speech by Suresh Chavhanke, second complaint by CJP: Srirampur, Maharashtra
Chavhanke delivered another anti-Muslim speech, mocked and belittled police action against him in Maharashtra
On May 19, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), deeply concerned with the communal ideology being spread by Suresh Chavhanke through his hate speeches sent a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar to register a complaint against him. Chavhanke’s latest hate stint was in Shrirampur, Maharashtra, where he delivered an anti-Muslim hate speech at a Hindu Hunkar Dharam Sabha event organised by the Rashtriya Sri Ram Sangh (SRS).
In the current event, Chavhanke had used the birth anniversary of Sambhaji Maharaj, a Maratha king, to spread communal hatred by making misinformed, provocative and offensive claims against the minority community, its history and their culture. In the said complaint, it was highlighted that Suresh Chavhanke was the key participant in the said event and he had espoused a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology.
In his speech, Chavhanke had said, “A few Muslims got upset with me, a Muslim minister told me a few days ago that they are upset with me. When I asked him the reason behind it, he said that he was upset with me because I used the word l***a (anti-Muslim slur). Tell me, he got upset over the fact that I called Aurangzeb a l***a. If I don’t call Aurangzeb a l***a, then whom should I call a l***a? This word is there today as it is in use, otherwise there are so many words that have gone extinct by now. Till the time this community considers Aurangzeb as their father, this word will be used by us no matter what anyone does.”
It was also highlighted in the complaint that taking action against Chavhanke over this speech is essential because not only targeted the Muslim community, but has also boasted about the fact that even though he has a large number of FIRs filed against him, no one has the audacity to take any “real” action against him. He has hinted that he enjoys political protection of the highest in the state and union governments. This brazen show of defiance and impunity by Chavhanke promotes a culture of violence and fearlessness in our state which is governed by laws.
“Even though FIRs have been filed, no one has had the audacity to file a charge sheet against me. The authorities of Shrirampur can also file an FIR against me, I don’t care, but let them know that I have come here after 6-7 years, and if they file an FIR, I will come here every day. You know, the chief minister of every state tells the authorities to file an FIR against me because they are under pressure, but they also tell them to not take it further as if a trial if started, I will come to that place every month and give more hate speeches. So, even the ministers think that it is better that I come once in every few years. So do not be scared,” Chavhanke had said.
Through the said complaint, action against the outfit and organisers should also be taken as this the second big event organised by the said outfit in Shrirampur this year, the first one being the March 10 hate event, wherein Telangana BJP MLA and Hindutva leader T. Raja Singh had been invited, who had delivered a hate speech targeting the Muslim community. SRS has been specifically active in the Shrirampur area. In the said complaint, CJP had also underlined that the Ahmednagar district police had previously booked T. Raja Singh under sections 295, 504 and 506 of the IPC. Seeking a more stringent action against Chavhanke, CJP had emphasised that the speaker have used the expression of extreme hate with a clear communal objective to establish religious hegemony upon a community that is already a minority in numbers in the country, is deplorable and against the constitutional values that we uphold as citizens of this country. Additionally, such speech and hate content has the direct potential to cause physical and mentally bodily harm to marginalized groups, their women and render their already insecure life further eroded of dignity and equality.
The recent judgments of the Supreme Court, where especially the string of recent Hate Speeches in the state of Maharashtra were specifically discussed, were relied upon by the complainant to urge for the registration of the FIR. In addition to this, the circulars of the Maharashtra government issued since February 2023 were also highlighted, wherein the DGP Maharashtra had urged the police stations to follow the Supreme Court orders on hate speech as well as detailed instructions on what steps are to be taken when any morchas are to be held.
In the complaint to the Shrirampur police, CJP had sought swift and stringent action against Suresh Chavhanke, the outfits SRS, and the organisers of the event under certain sections of the IPC in view to the overall unsafe atmosphere for the Muslim community that is being generated through the systemic and the perpetrated use of hate speech and writing within the country. Even though a transcript of the speech given by the speaker was provided with the complaint, CJP had urged the police to view their video-recording of the event, which the Maharashtra police has been taking, to determine if any other derogatory statement has also been made by him. The said complaint has been sent via email and registered post.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
Suresh Chavhanke’s hate mongering continues with immunity: Shrirampur, Ahmednagar
Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels
Worsening Spiral of Communal Hate: State’s role in rising violence against minorities How the Supreme Court has interpreted hate speech over decades
Supreme Court trains its gaze on hate speech, once again
Stop Hate Speech: Supreme Court directs GOI to take action
CJP complaints to CP, Amravati against Sakal Hindu Samaj event, urges stringent action
Another hate speech by Suresh Chavhanke, second complaint by CJP: Srirampur, Maharashtra
Chavhanke delivered another anti-Muslim speech, mocked and belittled police action against him in Maharashtra
On May 19, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), deeply concerned with the communal ideology being spread by Suresh Chavhanke through his hate speeches sent a complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar to register a complaint against him. Chavhanke’s latest hate stint was in Shrirampur, Maharashtra, where he delivered an anti-Muslim hate speech at a Hindu Hunkar Dharam Sabha event organised by the Rashtriya Sri Ram Sangh (SRS).
In the current event, Chavhanke had used the birth anniversary of Sambhaji Maharaj, a Maratha king, to spread communal hatred by making misinformed, provocative and offensive claims against the minority community, its history and their culture. In the said complaint, it was highlighted that Suresh Chavhanke was the key participant in the said event and he had espoused a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology.
In his speech, Chavhanke had said, “A few Muslims got upset with me, a Muslim minister told me a few days ago that they are upset with me. When I asked him the reason behind it, he said that he was upset with me because I used the word l***a (anti-Muslim slur). Tell me, he got upset over the fact that I called Aurangzeb a l***a. If I don’t call Aurangzeb a l***a, then whom should I call a l***a? This word is there today as it is in use, otherwise there are so many words that have gone extinct by now. Till the time this community considers Aurangzeb as their father, this word will be used by us no matter what anyone does.”
It was also highlighted in the complaint that taking action against Chavhanke over this speech is essential because not only targeted the Muslim community, but has also boasted about the fact that even though he has a large number of FIRs filed against him, no one has the audacity to take any “real” action against him. He has hinted that he enjoys political protection of the highest in the state and union governments. This brazen show of defiance and impunity by Chavhanke promotes a culture of violence and fearlessness in our state which is governed by laws.
“Even though FIRs have been filed, no one has had the audacity to file a charge sheet against me. The authorities of Shrirampur can also file an FIR against me, I don’t care, but let them know that I have come here after 6-7 years, and if they file an FIR, I will come here every day. You know, the chief minister of every state tells the authorities to file an FIR against me because they are under pressure, but they also tell them to not take it further as if a trial if started, I will come to that place every month and give more hate speeches. So, even the ministers think that it is better that I come once in every few years. So do not be scared,” Chavhanke had said.
Through the said complaint, action against the outfit and organisers should also be taken as this the second big event organised by the said outfit in Shrirampur this year, the first one being the March 10 hate event, wherein Telangana BJP MLA and Hindutva leader T. Raja Singh had been invited, who had delivered a hate speech targeting the Muslim community. SRS has been specifically active in the Shrirampur area. In the said complaint, CJP had also underlined that the Ahmednagar district police had previously booked T. Raja Singh under sections 295, 504 and 506 of the IPC. Seeking a more stringent action against Chavhanke, CJP had emphasised that the speaker have used the expression of extreme hate with a clear communal objective to establish religious hegemony upon a community that is already a minority in numbers in the country, is deplorable and against the constitutional values that we uphold as citizens of this country. Additionally, such speech and hate content has the direct potential to cause physical and mentally bodily harm to marginalized groups, their women and render their already insecure life further eroded of dignity and equality.
The recent judgments of the Supreme Court, where especially the string of recent Hate Speeches in the state of Maharashtra were specifically discussed, were relied upon by the complainant to urge for the registration of the FIR. In addition to this, the circulars of the Maharashtra government issued since February 2023 were also highlighted, wherein the DGP Maharashtra had urged the police stations to follow the Supreme Court orders on hate speech as well as detailed instructions on what steps are to be taken when any morchas are to be held.
In the complaint to the Shrirampur police, CJP had sought swift and stringent action against Suresh Chavhanke, the outfits SRS, and the organisers of the event under certain sections of the IPC in view to the overall unsafe atmosphere for the Muslim community that is being generated through the systemic and the perpetrated use of hate speech and writing within the country. Even though a transcript of the speech given by the speaker was provided with the complaint, CJP had urged the police to view their video-recording of the event, which the Maharashtra police has been taking, to determine if any other derogatory statement has also been made by him. The said complaint has been sent via email and registered post.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
Suresh Chavhanke’s hate mongering continues with immunity: Shrirampur, Ahmednagar
Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels
Worsening Spiral of Communal Hate: State’s role in rising violence against minorities How the Supreme Court has interpreted hate speech over decades
Supreme Court trains its gaze on hate speech, once again
Stop Hate Speech: Supreme Court directs GOI to take action
CJP complaints to CP, Amravati against Sakal Hindu Samaj event, urges stringent action
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30 FIRs Registered against Hate Speech and Hate Crimes: DGP, Maharashtra
In its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India (SC) in the ongoing case filed by Shaheen Abdullah v/s Director General of Police, Maharashtra (DGP), the Maharashtra police has stated that, since February 2023 as many as 30 FIRS have been registered in hate speech related cases in the state
Representation Image
On May 17, 2023, we had reported that with the second FIR filed against Kallicharan Maharaj, alias Dhananjay Sarag, nine FIRs in all have been filed by the Maharashtra police against lawbreakers making hate speeches. Now, according to its 30 page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India in the ongoing hate speeches, deputy secretary in the Maharashtra State Home department, Sanjay Khedekar has provided details of 30 FIRS being filed in the state since February 6, 2023. Of the details of nine FIRs compiled by us details of which are available in the public domain, four FIRs against T Raja Singh, suspended BJP MLA from Telangana, two against Kajal Hindustani, one against Suresh Chavhanke of Sudarshan news and in all two against Kallicharan Maharaj alias Dhananjay Sarag.
The list of FIRs provided below from the details in the affidavit of the state government provided by Dr Suhas Warke, Sub Inspector General, Director General of Police (DGP), Law and Order (L & O) does not how include FIRs lodged after April 4, 2023. According to details collated by us from that which is available in the public domain, there have been at least six more FIRS registered on April 13, 2023 (against Kallicharan Maharaj, Bhilloli Nanded, hate speech on April 9), April 24, 2023 (both against Kajal Hindustani, one in Mira Road Bhayande, the other at Navi Mumbai, on March 12 and February 26 respectively), April 28, 2023 ( against Kallicharan Maharaj, Baramati, hate speech event February 9), May 9, 2023 ( against Suresh Chavnhanke Zillapeth police station, Jalgaon, hate speech, December 25, 2022) and May 16, 2023 ( against Kallicharan Maharaj in Silod, Aurangabad, hate speech May 13).
Below the are the two comparative tables on FIRs in Maharashtra on Hate Speech, one on the basis of data provided by the state government in its Supreme Court affidavit and the other compiled by Team CJP (Citizens for Justice and Peace)
Table of FIRs filed against Hate Speech
Information of Hate Speech incidents mentioned in the Contempt Petition (C) No. 776/2023 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 940/2022-Shaheen Abdulla v/s DGP, Maharashtra
|
Sr. No. |
Date & Place |
Police Station, CR. No., Date of Registration |
Reasons |
|
1 |
06/02/2023 Nandurbar |
No case is registered. (The incidence is of 05/02/2023). |
As per report submitted by Superintendent of Police, Nandurbar, no offence is made out. |
|
2 |
10/02/2023 Khamgaon, Buldhana |
Khamgaon City Police Station, CR. No. 212/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 34. Dt. 24/04/2023. (The incidence is of 08/02/2023) |
|
|
3 |
14/02/2023 Baramati, Pune Rural |
Baramati City Police Station, CR. No. 240/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 505 (2), 34 r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 135 Dt. 25/04/2023. (The incidence is of 09/02/2023) |
|
|
4 |
14/02/2023 Pune |
No case is registered (The incidence is of 12/02/2023) |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Pune, no offence is made out. |
|
5 |
15/02/2023 Panvel |
No case is registered |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, no offence is made out. |
|
6 |
15/02/2023 Pune |
No case is registered (The incidence is of 12/02/2023) |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Pune no offence is made out. |
|
7 |
19/02/2023 Latur |
Shivajinagar Police Station Cr.No. 91/2023. IPC Sec. 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 505. Dt. 27/02/2023 |
|
|
8 |
24/02/2023 Jalna |
Tembhurni Police Station. CR.No. 96/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A (1), 34. Dt. 24/04/2023 |
|
|
9 |
26/02/2023 Solapur |
Faujdar Chawdi Police Station, CR. No. 111/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 143, 427 r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 135. Dt. 27/02/2023 |
|
|
10 |
26/02/2023 Navi Mumbai |
Vashi Police Station, CR. No. 142/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 505. Dt. 24/04/2023. |
|
|
11 |
26/02/2023 Vasai |
No case is registered |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Mir-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar, no offence is made out. |
|
12 |
05/03/2023 Malang Gad |
Hillline Police Station, N.C. No. 754/2023. IPC Sec. 505. Dt. 24/04/2023. |
Non Cognizable offence is registered. |
|
13 |
10/03/2023 Ahmadnagar |
Shrirampur Police Station, CR. No. 258/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 504, 506, Dt. 13/03/2023. |
|
|
14 |
12/03/2023 Mumbai |
Mira Road Police Station CR. No. 151/2023. IPC Sec. 153-A, 505 (2), Dt. 24/04/2023. |
|
|
15 |
19/03/2023 Aurangabad |
Kranti Chowk Police Station, CR. No. 92/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 153-A, 34, 505. Dt. 19/03/2023. |
|
|
16 |
22/03/2023 Nashik |
Mumbai Naka Police, Station, CR. No. 101/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 153-A, 188. Dt. 23/03/2023 |
|
(Source: Affidavit Maharashtra government Supreme Court, dated May 18, 2023)
Table of Other Incidents of Hate Speech where police has taken cognizance and registered offences during 13/01/2023 to 18/04/2023.
|
Sr. No. |
Date & Place |
Police Station, CR. No., Date of Registration |
Reasons |
|
1 |
Solapur City Dt. 19/02/2023 |
Jodhbhavi Peth Police Station Cr. No. 92/2023, IPC Sec. 295, 279, 427 r/w MV Act Sec. 184, 177. Dt. 19/02/2023 |
|
|
2 |
Raigad Dt. 21/02/2023 |
Khopoli Police Station Cr. No. 69/2023, IPC Sec. 143, 189, 504, 505 (2) r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 37 (1) / 135. Dt. 21/02/2023 |
|
|
3 |
Solapur City Dt. 21/02/2023 |
MIDC Police Station Cr. No. 104/2023. IPC Sec. 153(A) Dt. 28/02/2023 |
|
|
4 |
Thane City Dt. Dt. 01/03/2023 |
Naupada Police Station, Cr. No. 75/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 500 Dt. 01/03/2023 |
|
|
5 |
Thane City Dt. 02/02/2023 |
Bazarpeth Police Station, Cr. No. 46/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 294, 500, 504, 505 (2), 509 Dt. 02/03/2023 |
|
|
6 |
Buldhana Dt. 27/03/2023 |
Chikhali Police Station, Cr. No. 199/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 188, 135 Dt. 27/03/2023 |
|
|
7 |
Mumbai City Dt. 27/03/2023 |
Dadar Police Station, Cr. No. 141/2023. IPC Sec. 153, A (1) (a) Dt. 27/03/2023 |
|
|
8 |
Hingoli Dt. 29/03/2023 |
Akhada Balapur Police Station, Cr. No. 274/2023. IPC Sec. 153, 153 (A) Dt. 29/03/2023. |
|
|
9 |
Nashik City Dt. 31/03/2023 |
Nashik Road Police Station Cr. No. 147/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 153, Dt. 31/03/2023 |
|
|
10 |
Hingoli Dt. 05/04/2023 |
Kalamnuri Police Station, Cr. No. 216/2023, IPC Sec. 153(A), 500, 294, 506, 504 r/w the police Incitement to Disaffection Act 1922 Sec. 3 r/w Arms Act Sec. 3/25 r/w IT Act Sec. 66 (D) |
|
|
11 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 05/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 185/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 120 (B), 505 (2), Dt. 05/04/2023 |
|
|
12 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 06/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 186/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 120 (B), 143, Dt. 06/04/2023 |
|
|
13 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 07/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 187/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 34, r/w M.P. Act. 112, 117. Dt. 07/04/2023 |
|
|
14 |
Nanded Dt. 11/04/2023 |
Biloli Police Station Cr. No. 53/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 295-A, 505 (2), Dt. 11/04/2023 |
|
Table of FIRS on Hate Speech as compiled by Citizens for Justice & Peace
FIRs registered against hate-speakers in Maharashtra since December 2022:
|
S. No. |
Name of the offender |
District |
FIR date |
Police station at which FIR |
Sections |
|
1. |
T. Raja Singh |
Latur |
February 27, 2023 |
Shivaji Nagar police station |
FIR registered under sections 153A, 153B, 295A, and 505 of the IPC. |
| 2. |
T. Raja Singh |
Srirampur
Date: March 10 |
March 15, 2023 |
Ahmednagar district police |
Sections 295, 504 and 506 invoked in the FIR filed |
| 3. |
T. Raja Singh |
Aurangabad
Date: March 19 |
March 20, 2023 |
Kranti Chowk police station |
FIR registered under IPC section 153A 1(a) |
| 4. |
T. Raja Singh |
Mumbai
Date: January 29 |
March 27, 2023 |
Dadar police station |
FIR registered under IPC section 153A 1(a) |
| 5. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Nanded (Biloli) Date: April 9, 2023 |
April 13, 2023 |
Biloli Police station |
FIR registered under 153 A, 295 A and 505 (2) |
| 6. |
Kajal Hindusthani |
Thane
Date: March 12 |
April 24, 2023 |
Mira-road police station |
FIR registered under IPC sections 153A (a) and 505 |
| 7. |
Kajal Hindusthani |
Navi Mumbai
Date: February 26 |
April 24, 2023 |
FIR under IPC section 153A (a), 153B, 295A, and 505 |
|
| 8. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Pune
Date: February 9 |
April 28, 2023 |
Baramati city police station |
FIR under IPC section 153A (a) and 505(2) |
| 9. |
Suresh Chavhanke |
Jalgaon
Date: December 25 |
May 9, 2023 |
Jilhapeth Police station |
FIR registered under sections 295 and 504 of the IPC, along with Section 67 of the IT Act and relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. |
| 10. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Aurangabad
Date: May 13 |
May 16, 2023 |
Sillod rural police station |
FIR registered under sections of the IPC, including 295 A, 153 A, 505 (2), 109 and 188 |
(Source: Affidavit Maharashtra government Supreme Court, dated May 18, 2023)
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30 FIRs Registered against Hate Speech and Hate Crimes: DGP, Maharashtra
In its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India (SC) in the ongoing case filed by Shaheen Abdullah v/s Director General of Police, Maharashtra (DGP), the Maharashtra police has stated that, since February 2023 as many as 30 FIRS have been registered in hate speech related cases in the state
Representation Image
On May 17, 2023, we had reported that with the second FIR filed against Kallicharan Maharaj, alias Dhananjay Sarag, nine FIRs in all have been filed by the Maharashtra police against lawbreakers making hate speeches. Now, according to its 30 page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India in the ongoing hate speeches, deputy secretary in the Maharashtra State Home department, Sanjay Khedekar has provided details of 30 FIRS being filed in the state since February 6, 2023. Of the details of nine FIRs compiled by us details of which are available in the public domain, four FIRs against T Raja Singh, suspended BJP MLA from Telangana, two against Kajal Hindustani, one against Suresh Chavhanke of Sudarshan news and in all two against Kallicharan Maharaj alias Dhananjay Sarag.
The list of FIRs provided below from the details in the affidavit of the state government provided by Dr Suhas Warke, Sub Inspector General, Director General of Police (DGP), Law and Order (L & O) does not how include FIRs lodged after April 4, 2023. According to details collated by us from that which is available in the public domain, there have been at least six more FIRS registered on April 13, 2023 (against Kallicharan Maharaj, Bhilloli Nanded, hate speech on April 9), April 24, 2023 (both against Kajal Hindustani, one in Mira Road Bhayande, the other at Navi Mumbai, on March 12 and February 26 respectively), April 28, 2023 ( against Kallicharan Maharaj, Baramati, hate speech event February 9), May 9, 2023 ( against Suresh Chavnhanke Zillapeth police station, Jalgaon, hate speech, December 25, 2022) and May 16, 2023 ( against Kallicharan Maharaj in Silod, Aurangabad, hate speech May 13).
Below the are the two comparative tables on FIRs in Maharashtra on Hate Speech, one on the basis of data provided by the state government in its Supreme Court affidavit and the other compiled by Team CJP (Citizens for Justice and Peace)
Table of FIRs filed against Hate Speech
Information of Hate Speech incidents mentioned in the Contempt Petition (C) No. 776/2023 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 940/2022-Shaheen Abdulla v/s DGP, Maharashtra
|
Sr. No. |
Date & Place |
Police Station, CR. No., Date of Registration |
Reasons |
|
1 |
06/02/2023 Nandurbar |
No case is registered. (The incidence is of 05/02/2023). |
As per report submitted by Superintendent of Police, Nandurbar, no offence is made out. |
|
2 |
10/02/2023 Khamgaon, Buldhana |
Khamgaon City Police Station, CR. No. 212/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 34. Dt. 24/04/2023. (The incidence is of 08/02/2023) |
|
|
3 |
14/02/2023 Baramati, Pune Rural |
Baramati City Police Station, CR. No. 240/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 505 (2), 34 r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 135 Dt. 25/04/2023. (The incidence is of 09/02/2023) |
|
|
4 |
14/02/2023 Pune |
No case is registered (The incidence is of 12/02/2023) |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Pune, no offence is made out. |
|
5 |
15/02/2023 Panvel |
No case is registered |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, no offence is made out. |
|
6 |
15/02/2023 Pune |
No case is registered (The incidence is of 12/02/2023) |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Pune no offence is made out. |
|
7 |
19/02/2023 Latur |
Shivajinagar Police Station Cr.No. 91/2023. IPC Sec. 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 505. Dt. 27/02/2023 |
|
|
8 |
24/02/2023 Jalna |
Tembhurni Police Station. CR.No. 96/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A (1), 34. Dt. 24/04/2023 |
|
|
9 |
26/02/2023 Solapur |
Faujdar Chawdi Police Station, CR. No. 111/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 143, 427 r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 135. Dt. 27/02/2023 |
|
|
10 |
26/02/2023 Navi Mumbai |
Vashi Police Station, CR. No. 142/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, 505. Dt. 24/04/2023. |
|
|
11 |
26/02/2023 Vasai |
No case is registered |
As per report submitted by Commissioner of Police, Mir-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar, no offence is made out. |
|
12 |
05/03/2023 Malang Gad |
Hillline Police Station, N.C. No. 754/2023. IPC Sec. 505. Dt. 24/04/2023. |
Non Cognizable offence is registered. |
|
13 |
10/03/2023 Ahmadnagar |
Shrirampur Police Station, CR. No. 258/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 504, 506, Dt. 13/03/2023. |
|
|
14 |
12/03/2023 Mumbai |
Mira Road Police Station CR. No. 151/2023. IPC Sec. 153-A, 505 (2), Dt. 24/04/2023. |
|
|
15 |
19/03/2023 Aurangabad |
Kranti Chowk Police Station, CR. No. 92/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 153-A, 34, 505. Dt. 19/03/2023. |
|
|
16 |
22/03/2023 Nashik |
Mumbai Naka Police, Station, CR. No. 101/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 153-A, 188. Dt. 23/03/2023 |
|
(Source: Affidavit Maharashtra government Supreme Court, dated May 18, 2023)
Table of Other Incidents of Hate Speech where police has taken cognizance and registered offences during 13/01/2023 to 18/04/2023.
|
Sr. No. |
Date & Place |
Police Station, CR. No., Date of Registration |
Reasons |
|
1 |
Solapur City Dt. 19/02/2023 |
Jodhbhavi Peth Police Station Cr. No. 92/2023, IPC Sec. 295, 279, 427 r/w MV Act Sec. 184, 177. Dt. 19/02/2023 |
|
|
2 |
Raigad Dt. 21/02/2023 |
Khopoli Police Station Cr. No. 69/2023, IPC Sec. 143, 189, 504, 505 (2) r/w Maharashtra Police Act Sec. 37 (1) / 135. Dt. 21/02/2023 |
|
|
3 |
Solapur City Dt. 21/02/2023 |
MIDC Police Station Cr. No. 104/2023. IPC Sec. 153(A) Dt. 28/02/2023 |
|
|
4 |
Thane City Dt. Dt. 01/03/2023 |
Naupada Police Station, Cr. No. 75/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 500 Dt. 01/03/2023 |
|
|
5 |
Thane City Dt. 02/02/2023 |
Bazarpeth Police Station, Cr. No. 46/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 294, 500, 504, 505 (2), 509 Dt. 02/03/2023 |
|
|
6 |
Buldhana Dt. 27/03/2023 |
Chikhali Police Station, Cr. No. 199/2023, IPC Sec. 153, 188, 135 Dt. 27/03/2023 |
|
|
7 |
Mumbai City Dt. 27/03/2023 |
Dadar Police Station, Cr. No. 141/2023. IPC Sec. 153, A (1) (a) Dt. 27/03/2023 |
|
|
8 |
Hingoli Dt. 29/03/2023 |
Akhada Balapur Police Station, Cr. No. 274/2023. IPC Sec. 153, 153 (A) Dt. 29/03/2023. |
|
|
9 |
Nashik City Dt. 31/03/2023 |
Nashik Road Police Station Cr. No. 147/2023. IPC Sec. 295-A, 153, Dt. 31/03/2023 |
|
|
10 |
Hingoli Dt. 05/04/2023 |
Kalamnuri Police Station, Cr. No. 216/2023, IPC Sec. 153(A), 500, 294, 506, 504 r/w the police Incitement to Disaffection Act 1922 Sec. 3 r/w Arms Act Sec. 3/25 r/w IT Act Sec. 66 (D) |
|
|
11 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 05/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 185/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 120 (B), 505 (2), Dt. 05/04/2023 |
|
|
12 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 06/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 186/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 120 (B), 143, Dt. 06/04/2023 |
|
|
13 |
Mira Bhaindar Dt. 07/04/2023 |
Nayanagar Police Station, Cr. No. 187/2023, IPC Sec. 153 (A), 34, r/w M.P. Act. 112, 117. Dt. 07/04/2023 |
|
|
14 |
Nanded Dt. 11/04/2023 |
Biloli Police Station Cr. No. 53/2023, IPC Sec. 153-A, 295-A, 505 (2), Dt. 11/04/2023 |
|
Table of FIRS on Hate Speech as compiled by Citizens for Justice & Peace
FIRs registered against hate-speakers in Maharashtra since December 2022:
|
S. No. |
Name of the offender |
District |
FIR date |
Police station at which FIR |
Sections |
|
1. |
T. Raja Singh |
Latur |
February 27, 2023 |
Shivaji Nagar police station |
FIR registered under sections 153A, 153B, 295A, and 505 of the IPC. |
| 2. |
T. Raja Singh |
Srirampur
Date: March 10 |
March 15, 2023 |
Ahmednagar district police |
Sections 295, 504 and 506 invoked in the FIR filed |
| 3. |
T. Raja Singh |
Aurangabad
Date: March 19 |
March 20, 2023 |
Kranti Chowk police station |
FIR registered under IPC section 153A 1(a) |
| 4. |
T. Raja Singh |
Mumbai
Date: January 29 |
March 27, 2023 |
Dadar police station |
FIR registered under IPC section 153A 1(a) |
| 5. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Nanded (Biloli) Date: April 9, 2023 |
April 13, 2023 |
Biloli Police station |
FIR registered under 153 A, 295 A and 505 (2) |
| 6. |
Kajal Hindusthani |
Thane
Date: March 12 |
April 24, 2023 |
Mira-road police station |
FIR registered under IPC sections 153A (a) and 505 |
| 7. |
Kajal Hindusthani |
Navi Mumbai
Date: February 26 |
April 24, 2023 |
FIR under IPC section 153A (a), 153B, 295A, and 505 |
|
| 8. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Pune
Date: February 9 |
April 28, 2023 |
Baramati city police station |
FIR under IPC section 153A (a) and 505(2) |
| 9. |
Suresh Chavhanke |
Jalgaon
Date: December 25 |
May 9, 2023 |
Jilhapeth Police station |
FIR registered under sections 295 and 504 of the IPC, along with Section 67 of the IT Act and relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. |
| 10. |
Kalicharan Maharaj |
Aurangabad
Date: May 13 |
May 16, 2023 |
Sillod rural police station |
FIR registered under sections of the IPC, including 295 A, 153 A, 505 (2), 109 and 188 |
(Source: Affidavit Maharashtra government Supreme Court, dated May 18, 2023)
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Pravin Togadia and his incessant hate speeches in Madhya Pradesh
In the month of May alone, Togadia has delivered hate speeches at at least five locations in the state
Pravin Togadia, President of ‘Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad’, is on a hate speech spree in Madhya Pradesh. In May itself, he continued with his hateful diatribe in the state Itarsi, Mandideep, Amla, Malwa and Jhabua. We have already reported on the incidents in Itarsi, Mandideep, Amla.
On Tuesday, Togadia spoke at a meeting organised by Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. Here are the excerpts from his speech:
“Even if you spell the name of a Hindu girl, we will not spare you… For the safety of women, make a law against love jihad. Make a law to curb the growing population of Muslims. People are watching ‘The Kerala Story. But is even one person talking about bringing anti-love jihad law? You are just marketing humiliation of Hindu women. We do not want a marketing person, we want someone who will break an eye for an eye. Is our daughter Nupur Sharma able to leave her house? Has Indian become Afghanistan? A Hindu daughter is restrained in her house. How do have the audacity to behead Kanhaiya? How dare you cut up Shraddha in 35 pieces? How did you kill Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, Maharashtra?”
He blamed the killing of Harsh and Pravin in Karnataka for the defeat of BJP. According to him, if the government could not protect them then how will the public trust the government?
“Even today Hindu is in danger. In the coming 50 years, the growing Muslim population will turn this country into Afghanistan. By their growing population, no Hindu home will be safe. No Congressi or BJP person will be spared.”
“Wherever Muslims reigned, their reign never ended.”
“2,000 years ago there was no Christianity. There were no Christians then. Who were they? (Audience says ‘Hindu’). There was no Islam 1,400 years ago. Who were they then? Hindus.” Since the creation of the universe until Mahabharat. All people on this planet were Hindus. In England, Europe, Mecca Madina, everywhere there were Hindus. What happened to them? They were all killed. Over 500 crore Hindus have been killed in 2,000 years. Out of those who were cowards got converted. Today whatever religious conversions you see are all cowards.”
Location: Malwa, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 18, 2023
Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) president Pravin Togadia continues his hate campaign against Muslims. pic.twitter.com/GfywndtoGq
A video has surfaced today from Jhabua, where at Choyal Hospital, Togadia addressed some people, where he repeated the same trope about how there were no Christians/Muslim 2,000 years ago and all were Hindus. He further said, “In Riyadh, last year when it rained a lot, they found a small town where a 6,000 years old Shivling was found. I won’t go into evidence. I just want to tell you there were Hindus everywhere. Over 500 crore Hindus have been killed in 2,000 years. Out of those who were cowards got converted.”
“My ancestors were rulers in Arabistan before Islam came.”
“My estimate is that 50 years later no Hindu will be left in this country”.
Location: Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 19, 2023
Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) president Pravin Togadia delivers another communal speech, targets Muslims and Christians. pic.twitter.com/3PXKLmh96C
Hate speech in MP by others
On May 6, a video was reported by @HIndutvaWatch on Twitter which was from Mahakoshal where a far-right leader at a meeting of Bajrang Dal and VHP, said, “Have you heard of a reading of Quran being organised where they call all people irrespective of their religion and give prasad in the end? Because whatever is written in the Quran is sinful. It is written there how humans should destroy other humans… Similarly, there is no such reading of Bibles. All their ancestors are Hindus. You will not find even one person who has read the Quran and got inclined towards Islam”.
Location: Mahakoshal, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 6, 2023
Far-right leader demonizes Muslims at Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal training session. pic.twitter.com/x2rtw6AIGu
On May 13, a video was reported from Mandsaur of a VHP leader “In the 700-year reign of Muslims, we kept half of our army to protect our sisters and mothers because the enemy at that time (Muslims), who is our enemy even today, they had their eyes on them (women). The next war will be so grand that every Hindu will have to fight. Hence, we are conducting these trainings to prepare Hindus”.
Location: Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 13, 2023
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader calls Muslims enemies. He claims that a “war is imminent and every Hindu should fight.” pic.twitter.com/85QR7B5qM8
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Pravin Togadia and his incessant hate speeches in Madhya Pradesh
In the month of May alone, Togadia has delivered hate speeches at at least five locations in the state
Pravin Togadia, President of ‘Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad’, is on a hate speech spree in Madhya Pradesh. In May itself, he continued with his hateful diatribe in the state Itarsi, Mandideep, Amla, Malwa and Jhabua. We have already reported on the incidents in Itarsi, Mandideep, Amla.
On Tuesday, Togadia spoke at a meeting organised by Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. Here are the excerpts from his speech:
“Even if you spell the name of a Hindu girl, we will not spare you… For the safety of women, make a law against love jihad. Make a law to curb the growing population of Muslims. People are watching ‘The Kerala Story. But is even one person talking about bringing anti-love jihad law? You are just marketing humiliation of Hindu women. We do not want a marketing person, we want someone who will break an eye for an eye. Is our daughter Nupur Sharma able to leave her house? Has Indian become Afghanistan? A Hindu daughter is restrained in her house. How do have the audacity to behead Kanhaiya? How dare you cut up Shraddha in 35 pieces? How did you kill Umesh Kolhe in Amravati, Maharashtra?”
He blamed the killing of Harsh and Pravin in Karnataka for the defeat of BJP. According to him, if the government could not protect them then how will the public trust the government?
“Even today Hindu is in danger. In the coming 50 years, the growing Muslim population will turn this country into Afghanistan. By their growing population, no Hindu home will be safe. No Congressi or BJP person will be spared.”
“Wherever Muslims reigned, their reign never ended.”
“2,000 years ago there was no Christianity. There were no Christians then. Who were they? (Audience says ‘Hindu’). There was no Islam 1,400 years ago. Who were they then? Hindus.” Since the creation of the universe until Mahabharat. All people on this planet were Hindus. In England, Europe, Mecca Madina, everywhere there were Hindus. What happened to them? They were all killed. Over 500 crore Hindus have been killed in 2,000 years. Out of those who were cowards got converted. Today whatever religious conversions you see are all cowards.”
Location: Malwa, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 18, 2023
Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) president Pravin Togadia continues his hate campaign against Muslims. pic.twitter.com/GfywndtoGq
A video has surfaced today from Jhabua, where at Choyal Hospital, Togadia addressed some people, where he repeated the same trope about how there were no Christians/Muslim 2,000 years ago and all were Hindus. He further said, “In Riyadh, last year when it rained a lot, they found a small town where a 6,000 years old Shivling was found. I won’t go into evidence. I just want to tell you there were Hindus everywhere. Over 500 crore Hindus have been killed in 2,000 years. Out of those who were cowards got converted.”
“My ancestors were rulers in Arabistan before Islam came.”
“My estimate is that 50 years later no Hindu will be left in this country”.
Location: Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 19, 2023
Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) president Pravin Togadia delivers another communal speech, targets Muslims and Christians. pic.twitter.com/3PXKLmh96C
Hate speech in MP by others
On May 6, a video was reported by @HIndutvaWatch on Twitter which was from Mahakoshal where a far-right leader at a meeting of Bajrang Dal and VHP, said, “Have you heard of a reading of Quran being organised where they call all people irrespective of their religion and give prasad in the end? Because whatever is written in the Quran is sinful. It is written there how humans should destroy other humans… Similarly, there is no such reading of Bibles. All their ancestors are Hindus. You will not find even one person who has read the Quran and got inclined towards Islam”.
Location: Mahakoshal, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 6, 2023
Far-right leader demonizes Muslims at Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal training session. pic.twitter.com/x2rtw6AIGu
On May 13, a video was reported from Mandsaur of a VHP leader “In the 700-year reign of Muslims, we kept half of our army to protect our sisters and mothers because the enemy at that time (Muslims), who is our enemy even today, they had their eyes on them (women). The next war will be so grand that every Hindu will have to fight. Hence, we are conducting these trainings to prepare Hindus”.
Location: Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) May 13, 2023
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader calls Muslims enemies. He claims that a “war is imminent and every Hindu should fight.” pic.twitter.com/85QR7B5qM8
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CJP complaints to CP, Amravati against Sakal Hindu Samaj event, urges stringent action
Bharatanand Saraswati had delivered a hate speech last week at Amravati, riled up the audience by the Muslim community for spread of Covid
On May 18, Citizens for Justice and Peace had sent a complaint to the Commissioner of Police (CP), Amravati to register a complaint against Bharatanand Swami for delivering an anti-Muslim hate speech during an event organized by the notorious Sakal Hindu Samaj in Amravati, Maharashtra. The video for the said event had been accessed by us on May 15, 2023. In the said complaint, action against the organisers of the said event has also been urged. Additionally, CJP has also highlighted to the police that in the video that many other hate offenders and repeated hate speakers could be seen sitting beside Saraswati on the stage, all of whom need to be identified and booked alongside.
At the said event, the speaker made an incendiary and inciteful speech, including making derogatory statements, through which they had specifically targeted Muslim citizens and the community. Saraswati even went to the extent of accusing the Muslim community for the recent incident of riots in Akola, when eight individuals were injured while one died, without having the full information on the ongoing investigation. Following the patterns of their extremist peers, giving fire to the myths around “cow slaughter” and “growing population of Muslims” agenda, the speaker even implied that the Muslim community was responsible for the spread of COVID, something which had been used as an instrument to spread Islamophobia in the past too.
Delivering the said speech, Bharatanand Saraswati stated that even though he had been advised by people to not give a hate speech, he would, since he is not afraid of jail. Instigating his audience, in his speech, he had implied that he is being targeted by the police and authorities “because he is a Hindu” “I have been told to not give hate speech, complaints are being lodged, and they might put you in jail. To this, I say that our Lord Krishna were born in a jail only. Jail does not matter to us, not at all. I have myself been to jail once. This is all happening because conspiracies are taking place against Hindu saints, Hindu organisations and Hindu ministers.”
In the said complaint, CJP had highlighted that the communal and hate spewing speech delivered by the speaker, who had also delivered another hate speech on April 30 in Mumbra, Thane, promoted a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, through which he has targeted the Muslim Community.
Through the complaint, CJP has further emphasised that the speakers have used the expression of extreme hate with a clear communal objective to stigmatise a community that is already economically and socially vulnerable. This is against the law and the Constitution. Additionally, such speech and hate content has the direct potential to cause physical and mentally bodily harm to marginalised groups, their women and render their already insecure life further eroded of dignity and equality. The recent judgments of the Supreme Court, where especially the string of recent Hate Speeches in the state of Maharashtra were specifically discussed, were relied upon by the complainant to urge for the registration of the FIR.
In the complaint to the Amravati police, CJP specifically sought swift and stringent action against Bharatanand Saraswati, the unidentified speakers and the organisers of the event was urged under certain sections of the IPC in view to the overall unsafe atmosphere for the Muslim community that is being generated through the systemic and the perpetrated use of hate speech and writing within the country. The said complaint has been sent via email and registered post.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
FIR against Suresh Chavhanke in Jalgaon, Maharashtra
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CJP complaints to CP, Amravati against Sakal Hindu Samaj event, urges stringent action
Bharatanand Saraswati had delivered a hate speech last week at Amravati, riled up the audience by the Muslim community for spread of Covid
On May 18, Citizens for Justice and Peace had sent a complaint to the Commissioner of Police (CP), Amravati to register a complaint against Bharatanand Swami for delivering an anti-Muslim hate speech during an event organized by the notorious Sakal Hindu Samaj in Amravati, Maharashtra. The video for the said event had been accessed by us on May 15, 2023. In the said complaint, action against the organisers of the said event has also been urged. Additionally, CJP has also highlighted to the police that in the video that many other hate offenders and repeated hate speakers could be seen sitting beside Saraswati on the stage, all of whom need to be identified and booked alongside.
At the said event, the speaker made an incendiary and inciteful speech, including making derogatory statements, through which they had specifically targeted Muslim citizens and the community. Saraswati even went to the extent of accusing the Muslim community for the recent incident of riots in Akola, when eight individuals were injured while one died, without having the full information on the ongoing investigation. Following the patterns of their extremist peers, giving fire to the myths around “cow slaughter” and “growing population of Muslims” agenda, the speaker even implied that the Muslim community was responsible for the spread of COVID, something which had been used as an instrument to spread Islamophobia in the past too.
Delivering the said speech, Bharatanand Saraswati stated that even though he had been advised by people to not give a hate speech, he would, since he is not afraid of jail. Instigating his audience, in his speech, he had implied that he is being targeted by the police and authorities “because he is a Hindu” “I have been told to not give hate speech, complaints are being lodged, and they might put you in jail. To this, I say that our Lord Krishna were born in a jail only. Jail does not matter to us, not at all. I have myself been to jail once. This is all happening because conspiracies are taking place against Hindu saints, Hindu organisations and Hindu ministers.”
In the said complaint, CJP had highlighted that the communal and hate spewing speech delivered by the speaker, who had also delivered another hate speech on April 30 in Mumbra, Thane, promoted a hard, right-wing, exclusionist ideology, through which he has targeted the Muslim Community.
Through the complaint, CJP has further emphasised that the speakers have used the expression of extreme hate with a clear communal objective to stigmatise a community that is already economically and socially vulnerable. This is against the law and the Constitution. Additionally, such speech and hate content has the direct potential to cause physical and mentally bodily harm to marginalised groups, their women and render their already insecure life further eroded of dignity and equality. The recent judgments of the Supreme Court, where especially the string of recent Hate Speeches in the state of Maharashtra were specifically discussed, were relied upon by the complainant to urge for the registration of the FIR.
In the complaint to the Amravati police, CJP specifically sought swift and stringent action against Bharatanand Saraswati, the unidentified speakers and the organisers of the event was urged under certain sections of the IPC in view to the overall unsafe atmosphere for the Muslim community that is being generated through the systemic and the perpetrated use of hate speech and writing within the country. The said complaint has been sent via email and registered post.
The entire complaint can be read here:
Related:
FIR against Suresh Chavhanke in Jalgaon, Maharashtra
Defiant of the SC, Suresh Chavhanke, Raja Singh & Hindutva outfits escalate hate to dangerous levels
Hate speech spirals to a 7-day high, Muslims & Christians the target “Protect religion, women and cows,”
Memo seeking preventive action against Hindu Janajagruti Samiti event sent to authorities
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Worsening Spiral of Communal Hate: State’s role in rising violence against minorities
The threat and lawlessness of “Gau-Rakshaks” in North India
How the Supreme Court has interpreted hate speech over decades