Assam govt to file reply in ‘hate speech’ PILs against Himanta Biswa Sarma by next hearing

The Assam government has told the Gauhati High Court that it will submit its response in a batch of public interest litigations accusing Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of making “hate speech” remarks.

A division bench led by Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury has scheduled the next hearing for May 28. The court recorded the state’s assurance, noting: “the response affidavit shall positively be filed by the next date, with a copy served in advance to the counsel for the petitioners”.

The PILs were first taken up on February 26, when the bench observed a “fissiparous tendency” in the matter and issued notices to Sarma, the Centre, the state government and the Director General of Police.

The proceedings come against the backdrop of the recent Assembly elections, with polling held on April 9 and counting slated for May 4.

One of the petitions was filed by Sahitya Akademi awardee Hiren Gohain, former DGP Harekrishna Deka and senior journalist Paresh Malakar. Separate petitions were also moved by the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The CPI(M) had named the Bharatiya Janata Party as a respondent, but the High Court declined to issue notice to the party at this stage.

Earlier, on February 16, the Supreme Court of India refused to entertain similar pleas over a now-deleted video allegedly showing the chief minister firing a rifle at members of a community. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, directed petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court and asked for an expedited hearing.

Petitioners have argued that Sarma’s remarks could deepen social divisions. One plea alleged that the chief minister “openly admitted to having directed members of his political party to deliberately file complaints against Bengali-origin Muslims… with the express object of causing them harassment and hardship”.

The petitions further claim that the chief minister is “sullying his high constitutional office” by engaging in “blatant ‘hate speech’ against a minority community”, and accused him of making statements that could incite discrimination, social and economic boycott, and communal disharmony.

They have also sought a probe by a Special Investigation Team led by a retired high court judge, arguing that “despite widely disseminated and publicly recorded speeches… no suo motu FIR has been registered by the state authorities”.