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Seventy-six advocates of the Supreme Court, on Sunday, 26 December, wrote to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, asking the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the open calls for genocide of Muslims to achieve ethnic cleansing made at two separate religious events in Delhi (by the Hindu Yuva Vahini) and Haridwar (by Yati Narsinghanand). Naming nine people who had participated in the event, the letter said:
"In view of the seriousness and gravity of the aforementioned events, it is most humbly prayed that Your Lordship may take suo-moto cognisance of the same and direct that action be taken against the guilty persons under Sections 120B, 121A,153A, 153B, 295A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860," the letter further said.
Nine people were named in the letter by the Supreme Court lawyers to the CJI, namely: Yati Narsinghanand Giri, Sagar Sindhu Maharaj, Dharamdas Maharaj, Premanand Maharaj, Sadhvi Annapoorna alias Pooja Shakun Pandey, Swami Anand Swaroop, Ashwani Upadhyay, Suresh Chavhanke and Swami Prabodhanand Giri.
"It is also pointed out that the recent speeches are a part of a series of similar speeches that we have come across in the past. It may be noted that no effective steps have been taken under the provisions of 153, 153A, 153B, 295A, 504, 506,120B, 34 of IPC in respect of the earlier hate speeches. Thus, urgent judicial intervention is required to prevent such events that seem to have become the order of the day," the letter said.
The hate-spewing event in Delhi reportedly took place in Banarsidas Chandiwala Auditorium near Govindpuri metro station on 19 December.
A video of Hindutva groups and Sudarshan News Editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke that emerged on social media on Wednesday, 22 December, showed them taking an oath to "fight, die and if required, kill" in order to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra (nation).
The event in Delhi came on the heels of a three-day hate speech conclave organised by the controversial Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand from 17 to 19 December in Uttarakhand's pilgrimage city of Haridwar. Videos of several speeches, provoking the attendees to kill minorities and attack their religious spaces, made during the event surface online subsequently.
Four days after the event, the Uttarakhand police registered a case against Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, etc.).
Later, several politicians, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and others, spoke out against the genocidal speeches made against Muslims, which ironically, was organised as a 'Dharam Sansad.'
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