Press Releases
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February 25, 2003
SC Notice
Against Narendra Modi and Ashok Singhal on Hate Speech
On Monday, February 24,
the Supreme court issued notices to the Government of Gujarat, Union
government, Government of Maharashtra, chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra
Modi, and working president of the VHP, Ashok Singhal on why no criminal
investigation had been initiated on the speeches of Modi and Singhal made
in August and September 2002 respectively. The orders were issued on a
writ petition filed by concerned citizens and supported by Citizen for
Justice and Peace, Mumbai.
The petitioners had
supporting documents including complaints filed before the Azad Maidan
police station, Mumbai, the police stations at Becharji, Mehsana and
Amritsar. Despite the complaints being filed as far back as November 8,
2002, no preliminary investigations had been started by the police into
the hate speeches. The petition had to referred to ModiÂ’s speech made at
Becharji, Mehsana, in which he had said: “Why should we run relief camps,
these are baby producing factories”. Singhal had made a statement in
Amritsar stating that, “the Gujarat experiment was successful… entire
villages were purged of Islam”.
The petitioners were
Kuldip Nayar (Rajya Sabha MP), BG Verghese (senior journalist), Valjibhai
Patel (lawyer), two Dalit activists and Alyque Padamsee and Teesta
Setalvad (representatives of the Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and
Peace).
Teesta Setalvad
Citizens for Justice and Peace