The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on an application seeking the removal of a video shared by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Assam unit on social media, which appeared to suggest that the state would be overrun by Muslims if the Hindutva party were to lose power, Live Law.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Nizam Pasha told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that the 36-second artificial intelligence-generated video shared by the Assam BJP on X was posted as part of campaigning for the upcoming elections in the state, which is expected to be held in 2026.
The video had been uploaded ahead of the Bodoland Territorial Council election in the state, which was held on September 22 to elect members to the Bodoland Territorial Council.
“It shows that in case a certain political party does not come to power, a certain community will take over,” Live Law quoted Pasha as saying. “It shows people with skullcaps and beards...”
The advocate also noted that the court, in a direction in 2022, had said that a first information report should be registered suo motu in such cases.
The bench listed the matter for hearing on October 28.
The application had been filed by journalist Qurban Ali and Senior Advocate Anjana Prakash as part of a public interest litigation that sought action against hate speeches and hate crimes in the country, according to Live Law.
While hearing the public interest litigation, the court in 2022 had directed state governments and Union Territories to register suo motu cases in instances of hate speech, even without a formal complaint.
The action ought to be taken regardless of the religion of the speaker, the court had said at the time, adding that any hesitation to act according to the directions was liable to be viewed as contempt.
In the current application, the petitioners said that the video was posted by the Assam BJP on September 15. It showed a “grossly false narrative” that Assam would be taken over by Muslims if the party does not remain in power in the state, Live Law quoted the petitioners as saying.
The application said that the video showed a series of visuals of Muslims in public places in the state. It added that the video also “showed illegal migrants who are visibly Muslim coming into Assam; Muslims acquiring government land; and finally, that the state has 90% Muslim population”.
The Assam BJP was bound to uphold secular values of the Constitution, the petitioners said. However, the video circulated from its official handle “openly targets, vilifies and demonises Muslims”, they added.
“The broad message of the video is that the worst fate that a State can be met with is its takeover by Muslims, and on the strength of the assurance that if the BJP is voted into power the State would be saved from the same, support is being sought,” Live Law quoted the application as saying.
The petitioners sought a take-down of the video in order to prevent communal disharmony, unrest and enmity.
After the video had been uploaded on X, the Congress had accused the BJP of “spreading venom” in society through the social media video, and urged the Election Commission to take note of it.
The Assam unit of the Congress had also filed an FIR with the Dispur police station in Guwahati against the state BJP for “criminal conspiracy, abetment, promoting enmity between religious groups, and violation of model code of conduct for the Bodoland Territorial Council election”.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi had accused the BJP of fear-mongering, and said it was not doing so just for votes.
“…This is the repulsive Hindutva ideology in true form,” Owaisi had said. “The very existence of Muslims in India is a problem for them, their dream is a Muslim-mukt Bharat. Besides this constant whining, they’ve no vision for India.”
The BJP Assam Pradesh account, which has over 2 lakh followers, has previously shared several similar AI-generated videos, including ones showing Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi wearing a skullcap and speaking on the phone with Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir.
|
