Deft Move Against Hate Campaign

The Supreme Court’s direction to a lawyer found responsible for spreading malicious and false information to tender a public apology and arrest and detention of a Bihar Youtuber by Tamil Nadu Police for circulating fake videos purportedly showing attacks on labourers from Bihar in Tamil Nadu come as a whiff of fresh air in an atmosphere rendered mustier by excessive hate speech.

The apex court on Thursday directed advocate Prashant Kumar Umrao, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party for Uttar Pradesh, to tender an apology for spreading false information regarding attack on Hindi-speaking labourers in Tamil Nadu should serve as a warning to hate-mongers who had had a free run so far in states ruled by the BJP. The court was hearing Umrao’s petition for relaxing the conditions imposed by the Madras High Court to present himself before the police daily for 15 days.

While making the punishment lighter it directed the accused lawyer to present himself before the Investigating Officer (IO) on April 10 and subsequently whenever the IO sought his presence. It also directed him to tender an apology for spreading false information through his tweets about maltreatment and atrocities against Bihari labourers in the southern state which had reported no such incident.

Umrao had circulated the videos showing scuffle between two individual Bihari labourers with comments portraying them as attack against Hindi-speaking labourers. Apparently the court’s direction has come only after Tamil Nadu police initiated tough action and the state government arraigned the wrongdoer before the Madras High Court. Many such incidents from BJP-ruled states that went without any punitive action had only emboldened the anti-social element to continue the malicious campaign—mainly against the religious minorities— taking the impunity for granted.

A manhunt launched by the Tamil Nadu to nab the chief culprit has also led to the arrest and detention of Bihar based Youtuber Manish Kashyap. The Tamil Nadu police was duly assisted by the Bihar Police before whom the accused surrendered last week. The accused has been arrested under the National Security Act and a Madurai Court has remanded him to custody.

In both cases the accused persons had attempted to inflame passions in the name of language and promoted discord between people of the two states. The viral videos in early March had created widespread fear among Bihari migrant labourers in the southern state even as hordes of these workers were preparing to leave for their hometowns in Bihar to celebrate Holi, the spring festival.

While Tamil Nadu government requires a word of praise for its firefighting action to douse the fire of hatred immediately after the fake videos went viral, its quick move to arraign the culprits before the court needs to be emulated by authorities in other states where hate speech has become a daily norm. Only deft moves like these are likely to plug the source of hate and malice which several organisations have adopted as the main task in aid of the political party at the core of the central dispensation.