The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday directed authorities to ensure that no violence or instances of hate speech occur at rallies organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal in the Delhi-NCR region against the violence in Haryana, Live Law reported.
“We hope and trust that the state governments, including police authorities, will ensure that there are no hate speeches against any community and there is no violence or damage to properties,” the court said in its order.
“Wherever required, adequate police or paramilitary forces must be deployed,” it added.
The ruling was issued by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SV Bhatti while hearing an urgent plea filed by journalist Shaheen Abdullah seeking to stop the rallies.
The court also directed the Delhi Police and the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to ensure that no untoward incident takes place in the rallies, according to Live Law.
In addition, the court ordered them to record videos of the rallies in sensitive areas and preserve the footage.
“We have to ensure that rule of law is maintained,” Justice Khanna said, adding, “This cannot be treated as an adversarial litigation. Law and order is basically a policing issue which must be taken care of.”
Rallies are being held across Delhi to protest the communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh and Gurugram, in which six people have been killed.
In view of the protests, the police have beefed up security in sensitive areas in the national capital. The police said that demonstrators have not sought permission for any rally or meeting at a public place.
According to a report by Scroll, the police confirmed that the protest was held but disputed that it occurred outside the station.
The station house officer of Nangloi police station stated that the protest was held at a square. However, a sign for the police station could be seen just behind the man giving the speech.
The police officer also said that no first information report (FIR) was filed against the protesters as the rally was peaceful.