Will strengthen 2018 guidelines to curb hate crimes in country, says SC
Supreme Court Friday said it will strengthen its 2018 guidelines for dealing with mob violence, hate speeches and lynching to ensure that culprits are dealt with equally, irrespective of their communities for their public utterances spreading bigotry. In a significant verdict on a plea by activist Tehseen Poonawalla, the top court had on July 7, 2018 issued a slew of guidelines to curb hate crimes, and directed states and union territories to take preventive and remedial measures like appointment of nodal officers in each district to keep a tab on such activities.
The top court on Friday asked the Centre to collate details from states and UTs on compliance of its 2018 verdict in three weeks.
The court asked the central government to inform it on the next date of hearing if the information is not received by then.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to file a status report giving details of appointment of nodal officers by the states in accordance with its 2018 verdict.
The bench said it has gone through the 2018 guidelines issued by the top court and, in its view, some more elements needed to be added.
«These guidelines of 2018 are fairly elaborate ones. We will be adding more to it and not subtract anything,» the bench said, as it pointed out that CCTV cameras, a deterrent factor in such crimes, can be installed at the vulnerable places.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions seeking directions to curb hate speeches across states, including a plea for action against Hindu outfits calling for social and economic boycott of Muslims following the recent communal violence in Haryana's Nuh and Gurugram close to Delhi.
The bench said it has other measures in mind like
