Hate Speech

BJP leader P C George surrendered before a court in Erattupetta in this district, on Monday in connection with a hate speech case. "We have received information that George has appeared before the court," a police officer told reporters here. George's move came as the police sought to take him into custody after the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. On Saturday, George had requested the police for an extension until February 24 to appear before them for investigation in connection with the hate speech case. Dismissing his petition, the High Court observed that granting bail in such a case would send the wrong message to society. George, a former MLA, was accused of delivering a hate speech against a minority community during a TV channel discussion. He approached the High Court after the Kottayam District Sessions Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in the case registered by the Erattupetta police. The case was based on a complaint by Muhamed Shihab, a

Kerala BJP leader P C George has been booked for allegedly making remarks that could incite religious hatred, police said on Saturday. George was accused of hate speech against a minority community during a TV discussion held early this week, sources said. The Erattupetta Police here registered a case against the senior leader on Friday based on a complaint filed by the Muslim Youth League Municipal Committee. He was booked under various sections of the BNS, police said adding that further proceedings would be initiated soon. "The case was registered after the statements of the complainants were recorded," a police officer said. Meanwhile, BJP strongly condemned the police case against George and alleged that it was a "political vendetta by the LDF government." Senior BJP leader and the party's Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar accused the CPI(M)-led Left government of not saying a word against Hamas and admitting PDF followers into their fold. Justifying George, Javadekar said

It wasn't just fact-checking that Meta scrapped from its platforms as it prepares for the second Trump administration. The social media giant has also loosened its rules around hate speech and abuse again following the lead of Elon Musk's X specifically when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity as well as immigration status. The changes are worrying advocates for vulnerable groups, who say Meta's decision to scale back content moderation could lead to real-word harms. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that the company will remove restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are out of touch with mainstream discourse," citing recent elections as a catalyst. For instance, Meta has added the following to its rules called community standards that users are asked to abide by: We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality a

Allahabad High Court judge Shekhar Kumar Yadav, who purportedly gave controversial statements at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad function, appeared before the Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday, sources said. According to the sources, Yadav appeared before the collegium headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and was asked to put forth his version on the statements made. The top court on December 10 took note of news reports over the statements and sought a report from the Allahabad High Court on the issue. "The Supreme Court has taken note of newspaper reports of a speech given by Mr Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, a sitting judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. The details and particulars have been called from the high court and the matter is under consideration," an official statement had said. According to the established norm, a judge, against whom a report is sought by the apex court collegium on any controversial issue from the high court concerned, is given opportunity to

The Thane police in Maharashtra have registered an FIR against controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, who is already facing multiple cases, over his alleged objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, officials said on Sunday. The seer allegedly made the objectionable remarks during a programme held at Hindi Bhavan in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) on September 29, as per the police. Based on complaint by the president of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the Mumbra police in Thane registered a case against him on October 3. The FIR has been loaged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (intentionally uttering words to deliberately wound the religious sentimen

France and Telegram are the latest examples of governments and tech companies clashing over online content regulation

For many French voters of diverse backgrounds, last Sunday's parliamentary election results were a relief, seemingly an embrace of the country's ethnic variety instead of a victory for xenophobic far-right forces. It was a moment of joy, a light at the end of the tunnel, Loven Bensimon said about the ballot results. She celebrated Sunday with thousands of others who rallied against the far right at Place de la Republique in Paris around a giant patchwork French flag that read, France is the fabric of migrations. But the fight is not over, said Bensimon, 27, a Black woman who works in communications. We have to fight against the racism we face every day, and which has been more visible in the past few weeks. Thought to be on the verge of seizing a majority in the National Assembly, the anti-immigration National Rally eventually came in third in Sunday's vote, after centrists and leftists joined forces. Candidates in three-way races dropped out of the runoff to favor the challenger ..

There has been a "concerning increase" in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, and demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities in India, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. In his remarks at the release of the annual State Department report on international religious freedom, Blinken said on Wednesday that at the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom. The report stated that senior US officials continued to raise concerns about religious freedom issues with their Indian counterparts in 2023. "In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities. At the same time, people around the world are also working hard to protect religious freedom," the secretary of state said. Ten of 28 states have laws restricting religious conversions for all faiths. Some of these states also impose ...

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay on the trial of a criminal case lodged against Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai for allegedly delivering a hate speech against Christians in an interview to a YouTube channel in October 2022. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta asked the complainant to file his response within six weeks. "Interim order to continue. Re-list the matter in the week commencing September 9," the bench said. At the outset, the bench noted that it is a private complaint and the state has not been made party in the matter. Senior advocate Indira Jaisingh, appearing for the complainant, V Piyush, informed that it is a private complaint and sought some time to file the counter-affidavit. The proceedings in the criminal case against Annamalai were stayed by the top court on February 26. After perusing the transcript of the statements given in the interview, the bench had observed, "Prima facie, there is no hate speech. No case is made out."

The central government has informed the Supreme Court that 28 States and Union Territories have appointed nodal officers in compliance with its guidelines to prevent mob violence and lynching following hate speech incidents.The Ministry of Home Affairs has filed a status report on a batch of petitions seeking directions to prevent/curb hate speech.Centre in its status report told the apex court that the States which informed that they have appointed nodal officers are -- Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, UT of Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.The top court has been hearing a batch of pleas seeking steps to be taken against hate speech incidents.By it's August 25, 2023 order the top court while hearing petitions .

The Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of delivering hate speech in poll-bound Rajasthan and urged the Election Commission to take action against him for asking voters to press the "lotus" button as if they're awarding the "death sentence" to the Congress. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh cited the prime minister's speech made in Barmer on Wednesday and said the people of the state will surely respond to such "arrogance" of the prime minister. "Jab nash manuj pe chhata hai, pahle vivek marr jata hai (sanity deserts man before destruction)," Modi said in a post in Hindi on X. "Prime Minister Modi's hatred towards Congress leaders can be easily gauged from his statement. How can a person holding a responsible position like the prime minister talk about hanging people through voting? The prime minister is strangling democracy," Ramesh alleged. "This is a clear example of hate speech. If the Election Commission is serious about fair and free elections then they shou

The European Commission on Thursday made a formal, legally binding request for information from Elon Musk's social media platform X over its handling of hate speech, misinformation and violent terrorist content related to the Israel-Hamas war. It is the first step in what could become the EU's inaugural investigation under the Digital Services Act, in this case to determine if the site formerly known as Twitter is in compliance with the tough new rules meant to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content. San Francisco-based X has until Wednesday to respond to questions related to how its crisis response protocol is functioning. Responses to other questions must be received by Oct 31. The commission said its next steps, which could include the opening of formal proceedings and penalties, would be determined by X's replies. Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The company's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, said earlier that the site h

A total of 107 MPs and MLAs have hate speech cases against them and 480 candidates with such cases have contested elections in the last five years, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the incumbent MPs and MLAs, besides the unsuccessful candidates in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls held in the country in the said period. The analysis reveals that many of the MPs and MLAs, who are designated lawmakers, have actually declared cases related to "hate speech" against themselves. The analysis is based on the affidavits submitted by the MPs and MLAs prior to the last election they contested. According to the analysis, 33 MPs have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves -- seven from Uttar Pradesh, four from Tamil Nadu, three each from Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana, two each from Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal and one each from Jharkha

Bidhuri may be a small fry in the larger calculus of the party. Yet, in his blundering and uncultured way, he was voicing in Parliament what has already been normalised on the streets

Police have booked Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote and three others for allegedly giving "provocative" speeches during an agitation in Pune recently, said officials on Monday. On September 4, some Hindutva organizations, along with the BJP had held a protest outside the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) headquarters in the city and sought the removal of an unauthorised structure from near a temple. According to Shivajinagar police station officials, the organizers had not taken prior permission from authorities for the protest. During the agitation outside the PMC main gate, Ekbote and three others - Kunal Kamble, Kiran Shinde and Vishal Pawar -- gave "provocative speeches" which had the potential to create a rift between two communities, they said. A case under relevant sections of the IPC, including 141 (unlawful assembly), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) was registered against ..

"Shri Ramesh Bidhuri must be punished according to the rules to save the dignity of the House," Ali said

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till October 3 the hearing on the plea of CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat challenging the Delhi High Court's order dismissing a petition against the trial court's refusal to order registration of an FIR against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches over anti-CAA protests. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal deferred the matter after Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted a request for adjournment. The top court said no further adjournment will be granted to the respondent in the case. The apex court on April 17 had issued notice to the Delhi Police on the plea filed by Karat. On June 13 last year, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the petition filed by CPI(M) leaders Karat and KM Tiwari against the two BJP MPs for their alleged hate speeches. The high court had refused to interfere with the trial court's order, saying under the law sanction is required to be obtained from the competent ..

The 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 state

A Sudarshan News editor has been arrested by police here over his alleged inflammatory posts on social media related to the communal violence in Nuh and adjoining districts in Haryana, an official said. Mukesh Kumar, the TV channel's managing editor, was arrested by the Gurugram Cyber Station East Police. Six people have been killed in the communal violence which erupted in Nuh on July 31 after a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked.

Observing that there has to be harmony and comity between communities, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to constitute a committee to look into the cases of hate speech. The top court was hearing a plea over alleged blatant hate speeches calling for killing members of a particular community and their social and economic boycott at rallies in different states, including Haryana where recent communal clashes claimed six lives. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti asked Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, to seek instructions and inform it about the committee by August 18. "There has to be harmony and comity between the communities. All the communities are responsible. The problem of hate speech is not good and nobody can accept it," the bench observed. The top court also directed the petitioner to collate all the material, including video and submit to the nodal officers appointed in pursuance to its October 21, 2022 judgement.