By Umanand Jaiswal
Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued notices to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and three other respondents over three petitions accusing him of delivering hate speeches against the minority Miya community and seeking directions to restrain him from making such remarks.
The three petitions were filed by three Guwahati-based citizens, the CPI and the CPM, seeking the court’s intervention to stop the alleged “hate” speeches.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, after hearing the matter for nearly an hour, ordered issuance of notices to the four respondents. The Chief Justice orally observed that the speeches cited by the petitioners reflected a “fissiparous tendency”.
The respondents are the central government, the Assam government, chief minister Sarma and the Assam DGP.
According to LiveLaw.in, on the petitioners’ plea for an ad-interim order restraining Sarma from making alleged hate statements, the court orally said: “At this stage, let notices be issued first. It will be a normal restraint while this petition is pending consideration. Notice for both the main prayers and ad-interim prayers. We will keep it after the Bihu holidays.”
The court also said issuing notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not necessary at this stage, the portal reported.
This story was originally published in telegraphindia.com. Read the full story here.