The Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 21, strongly criticised hate speech through visual media, including the role of TV anchors. The court said that it poisons the fabric of our society and questioned the government for being a mute spectator, instead of playing a lead role in curbing such speeches. Pulling up TV channels for hate speech, a bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy said that the role of the anchor during a TV debate is very important and pointed out that it is the anchor's duty to see that hate speech is not used during the broadcast of a show.
"Where is our nation headed? Hate speech poisons every fabric... and we cannot permit it," Justice Joseph said. The bench also pulled the Union government’s counsel on the issue of hate speech. "Why is the government standing mute... why is all this happening? People will come and go and the nation will have to endure," he added.
The bench suggested there should be a system in place and there should be some methodology to conduct the show on TV, and the anchor should not run down people. "You run down a person. Just see what that person feels... you ridicule someone on a daily basis, it is like killing someone slowly," said Justice Joseph.
He further added that these speeches on mainstream media or on social media are unregulated and the role of the anchor is critical and that it's their duty to see that hate speech doesn't continue. The bench told the Union government’s counsel that the government should not treat the issue of hate speech as a trivial matter and should take lead on developing mechanisms to curb it.
The bench also questioned the Uttarakhand government counsel: "What action did you take, when Dharam Sansad was (happening)... did you try to prevent it?", while emphasszing that no religion preaches violence.
Representing the Union government, Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj, informed the bench that 14 state governments have responded to take action against hate speech. The bench also said that freedom of press is important but we should know where to draw a line.