NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 29
The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay on the trial of a criminal case lodged against the Bhartiya Janta Party Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai for allegedly delivering a hate speech against Christians in an interview to a YouTube channel in October 2022.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta asked the complainant to file his response within six weeks. “Interim order to continue. Re-list the matter in the week commencing September 9,” the bench said. At the beginning of the hearing, the bench noted that it is a private complaint and the state has not been made party in the matter. Appearing for the complainant, senior advocate Indira Jaishingh informed the bench that it is a private complaint and sought additional time to file the counter-affidavit.
It is worth noting that the proceedings in the criminal case against Annamalai were stayed by the apex court on February 26. After going through the transcript of the statements given in the interview, the bench had observed, “Prima facie, there is no hate speech. No case is made out.” However, the bench issued a notice to the complainant, who accused Annamalai of delivering a hate speech against Christians in the interview on October 22, 2022.
Annamalai has moved the top court challenging a High Court order that had refused to quash the summons issued to him in the case on February 8. The high court had then, observed that the psychological impact on an individual or a group must also be considered under the definition of hate speech. Initially, a summon was issued by the trial court on the complaint of a man named Piyush.
