India: Supreme Court orders authorities to punish Islamophobic speech
Indian law punishes any religious hate speech.
AP - Altaf Qadri
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The call to order from India's Supreme Court follows a fresh wave of rhetoric calling for the murder of Muslims by members of the country's ruling party.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in New Delhi,
Sébastien Farcis
Two weeks ago, during a Hindu rally in New Delhi, MPs and members of the ruling Hindu nationalist party launched fiery speeches.
“
Boycott all Muslim businesses
,” one of them had called.
"
Take arms to kill them
," said another.
But no sanction was initiated by the police of the capital, controlled by the same party of the BJP.
A breach deemed inadmissible by the judges of the Supreme Court.
Indian law punishes any religious hate speech, and the police must act immediately.
The judges are all the more irritated as nothing has been done either for almost a year against other Hindu leaders
who had called for the genocide of Muslims
.
"
What is happening is tragic, we must protect the secular Constitution of India
," say the senior judges.
“
And if you don't act quickly, we will sue you for contempt of court.
This threat from the judges comes as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to India, has also just reminded the authorities that India has a "
responsibility to respect religious minorities
".
And that it was time "
to unreservedly condemn calls for hatred
".
►
To read also: Interview - "We are witnessing in India a trivialization of anti-Muslim violence"
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
India
Justice
Religion