Kapil Sibal urges Aligarh DM to intervene in next 'Dharam Sansad' event to be held on Jan 22
Jan 14, 2022
New Delhi [India], January 14 : Senior lawyer and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday wrote to the Aligarh District Magistrate in Uttar Pradesh seeking prevention of inflammatory speeches at another 'Dharam Sansad' event planned on January 22-23 in Aligarh.
The senior lawyer wrote to the authorities in Uttar Pradesh the day after the Supreme Court passed an order in the Haridwar Dharam Sansad case.
The Senior lawyer in his letter cited a news report that stated that another 'Dharam Sansad' is being organised now in Aligarh on January 22-23, 2022 wherein the speakers who participated in the events held in the Haridwar Dharm Sansad conclave are likely to be speaking again. He has urged the authorities to take preventative action under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and Sections 3 and 5 of the National Security Act, 1980.
"The responsibility to take preventive measures to prevent any possible incident of mob violence, therefore, falls on the district administration, and you are in charge of the administration in Aligarh, so the responsibility falls on your shoulders to take preventive action to ensure no speeches of this nature are made," said Sibal in his letter.
"We are in the midst of general elections to the Legislative Assembly and while we do not want to attribute motives to any person, but if such speeches are made in the midst of an election, they will destabilize the social order and have serious consequences on the polity of this country. We request you to take such preventative action within your powers as is necessary including under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 and Sections 3 and 5 of the National Security Act, 1980," the letter read.
He has also marked the copy of his letter to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Election Commission of India, Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Superintendent of Police, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued notice to Uttarakhand and Delhi police on a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the Haridwar Dharm Sansad speeches allegedly inciting violence against the minority communities.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also in its order sought responses of Uttarakhand and Delhi Police in ten days.
The apex court was hearing the petition filed by former High Court judge and Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash and Journalist Qurban Ali. The plea sought the arrest and trial of people who made hate speeches, inciting violence towards Muslims, at the Haridwar Dharm Sansad conclave.
