By Nupur Thapliyal

A Complaint has been filed against Mr. Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-Chief of the Sudarshan TV for allegedly giving hate speech and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, at an event organized by Hindu Yuva Vahini earlier this month.
The complaint filed by Avani Bansal, Prashant Dubey and Prakhar Dixit refers to an event dated December 19, 2021 which was organized by Hindu Yuva Vahini and presided by Chavhanke.

According to the complaint, the said event was also attended by Rajeshwar Singh, Rajiv Kumar, Uday Bhan Singh, Prempal Gupta and others.

“The accused persons administered an oath to a large number of people inciting feelings of
communal violence and hatred, creating enmity between different groups on the basis of religion. The accused speakers used inflammatory and provocative sentences while administering the oath, calling for killing of people in the name of religion if required,” the complaint reads. Specific sentences referred in the complaint which were allegedly used by Chavhanke were “We all  take oath, give our word, make a resolution that until our last breath, we will make India a Hindu nation, keep it a Hindu only nation” “We will fight and die and if required we will kill as well” and “We will not hesitate a bit to make any sacrifice at any cost.”

The complaint states that the actions of the accused persons amount to cognizable offences
under Sections 124A, 153A, 153B, 295A, 295A, 298, 505(1), 505(2) and 120 B of Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 66A, 69, 59A Rule 3(2)(b), Rule 3(2)(i) of Information  Technology Act, 2000; Section 2(f) , 10, 11, 12 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Section 5, 6, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and further also violates the Orders of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

“Please take note that this is not the first time that Sudarshan TV’s Chief Editor Suresh Chavhanke has made communal and irresponsible statements. He recently made remarks about minority community members “infiltrating” into the civil services and citing a conspiracy on increasing number of Muslims entering bureaucracy. Therefore, if stern action is not taken in this regard, it will set a precedent that he can get away with making hate speeches, which will be damaging to the very secular fabric and constitutional ethos of our nation,” the complaint reads.

The complaint also states that another similar event was also organized earlier this month which was held at Haridwar from 17th to 19th December, 2021 by Yati Narasimhanand, a religious leader who has been accused in the past of allegedly inciting violence with his incendiary speeches.

“The said event was attended by several BJP leaders, religious leaders, and heads of Hindu
organizations. The speakers at the Haridwar conclave “Dharma Sansad” organized at Ved Niketan Dham, made speeches openly advocating and encouraging violence against Muslims and Christians, invoking people to take up arms and even threatened to shoot a former Prime Minister of India. An FIR has been registered under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) against Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi, formerly known as Waseem Rizvi, and others, for the same,” the complaint reads.

This story first appeared on livelaw.in