Indian SC take up petition against Hindu leaders

NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Wednesday said it will take up a petition seeking prosecution of several saffron-robed Hindu religious leaders for allegedly making highly provocative speeches against Muslims at a closed-door meeting last month.

Three Supreme Court judges said they were issuing a notice to the Uttarakhand state government that they will investigate the case next week.The religious leaders called on Hindus to arm themselves for “a genocide” against Muslims during the meeting in the northern holy town of Haridwar in Uttarakhand in December, according to a police complaint.The police said they were questioning suspects, but no arrests have been made.

Uttarakhand state is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, whose rise to power in 2014, and landslide reelection in 2019, has led to a spike in attacks against Muslims and other minorities.Muslims comprise nearly 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people.The petition filed by retired Judge Anjana Prakash stated that the speeches made at the Hindu religious leaders’ congregation “pose a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens,” said Bar & Bench, an online portal for Indian legal news. Last month, Indian police arrested a Hindu religious leader for allegedly making a derogatory speech against India’s independence leader Mohandas Gandhi and praising his assassin.