The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a batch of petitions seeking action against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over alleged discriminatory remarks and a viral social media post, now deleted, depicting him discharging a firearm toward an animated image of members of a particular community.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, asked the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court with their grievances.
It also directed the High Court to hear the matter on priority.
“Various directions against officials are sought… In our considered view, all these issues need to be effectively adjudicated by the High Court of the jurisdiction. Consequently, without expressing any opinion, the petitioners are at liberty to approach the jurisdictional High Court. Since the pertinent authorities have urged the court that the matter requires urgent attention, we request the Chief Justice of the jurisdictional High Court to afford expeditious hearing,” the bench observed.
The bench said that High Courts are constitutional entities meant to ensure access to justice.
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“Why haven’t you gone to the Gauhati High Court? Don’t undermine its authority… Will ask parties to use restraint and remain within the boundaries of constitutional morality, but this is becoming a trend just before the polls,” the bench added.
It also remarked that it was a ‘disturbing trend’ for every matter to be brought before the Supreme Court.
“This is a disturbing trend that every matter ends up here. We have already deprived high courts of environmental and commercial litigations,” the bench observed.
Petitions seeking action against the Assam Chief Minister were filed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India leader Annie Raja. The petitioners pointed to several instances of hate speech by Sarma, and to a social media post by BJP’s Assam unit, now deleted, containing a video depicting Sarma symbolically firing at images of two Muslim men at point-blank range.
As per reports, a separate petition was filed earlier by 12 individuals seeking directions to prevent divisive comments by persons holding constitutional posts.
