Gauhati HC issues notice to Himanta Biswa Sarma over PIL on alleged hate speech

Guwahati: A division bench of the Gauhati High court on Thursday ordered notices to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the government of Assam and to the DGP Assam after hearing a PIL that sought restraints on the Chief Minister from making alleged hate speeches and inciting civilians to take law into their hands against the religious minority community.

As the petitioners also wanted for an interim order restraining the Chief Minister from making statements, the court however, only said, “Let the notices be issued first. It will be a normal restraint while this petition is pending consideration,” said the judges orally.

The court order issued by the bench headed by Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury followed after prominent citizen Hiren Gohain and two others filed the PIL seeking direction from the court to restrain the Chief Minister from making alleged hate speeches.


The petitioners had earlier approached the Supreme Court seeking action against the Chief Minister for his alleged hate speech, who in turn asked the petitioners to approach the High Court.

It may be mentioned here that the petitioners referred to the speech of the Chief Minister, where he had stated that he would take sides and won’t let the Miya Muslims take over Assam.

The PIL stated that despite the presence of public videos of alleged hate speeches of CM Sarma, Assam Police has not filed a suo motu FIR. It claims that inaction against CM fosters a “climate of impunity” and a chilling effect.

The PIL seeks directions to restrain CM Sarma from making alleged hate speeches and inciting civilians to take the law into their own hands against minority communities.

The petition demands a declaration that the CM violated his constitutional oath of office.

Nehru statue vandalised

A 10-foot statue of Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was pulled down by unidentified vandals at Pailapool in Assam's Cachar district.

"We immediately informed the police about it. Officials initially claimed that the statue fell on its own, but CCTV footage showed a group vandalising it with the help of an excavator," Congress leader Pradeep Kumar Dey said.

The statue was installed in 2000 in front of Nehru College, an institution established in 1965. The Congress has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) regarding the incident.