The Delhi police submitted an affidavit to the apex court saying that no hate speech was delivered during the 'Dharam Sansad' event that took place in Delhi on December 19, 2022.
This comes after SC on Wednesday asked the Uttarakhand government to file a status report regarding the progress in the investigation into the speeches delivered at the Dharam Sansad event held in Haridwar in December 2021.
In the affidavit, the police said that an in-depth investigation was done in the Dharam Sansad case and they did not find any instance of hate speech in the speeches delivered at the event. Although the police found out that specifics of religion were discussed, they did not find any evidence of hate speech.
The petitioners in the case had said that police are "hand in glove with perpetrators of communal hate". The police in the recent affidavit said that these allegations are baseless.
The Supreme court is hearing a petition filed by journalist Qurban Ali and former Patna High Court judge and senior advocate Anjana Prakash in the matter. The petitions have asked for an independent SIT to investigate the matter.
The petitioners said that in December 2021, at a procession organized by Hindu Yuva Vahini auditorium near Govindpuri metro station, sentiments of people were instigated through hate speeches. These speeches caused panic in the area, as per the petitioners.
"We must practice tolerance to the views of others. Intolerance is as much dangerous to democracy as to the person himself. That the petitioner is trying to draw an incorrect and absurd inference by isolated passages disregarding the main theme and its message," the police affidavit said.
Ali, the petitioner said, "We stand by what we have said in our petition. The matter is before the Supreme Court. We will file an appropriate response before the court," to PTI