2007 hate speech: SC stays trial court order directing Azam Khan to give voice sample
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed an order of a trial court directing Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan to give a voice sample in a case of allegedly delivering a hate speech and using derogatory language against BSP chief Mayawati in 2007.
The voice sample has been sought to match it with Khan's speech, which was made during a public meeting in Rampur's Tanda area in 2007 and recorded on a CD.
A bench of justices A S Bopanna and P K Mishra issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case on the plea filed by Khan.
"Issue notice to the respondent. In the meanwhile, there shall be an interim stay of the direction of the trial court order dated October 29, 2022, and upheld by the high court dated July 25, 2023," the bench said.
Khan has challenged the July 25 order of the Allahabad High Court which disposed of his plea and upheld the order of the trial court in Rampur.
The complaint was registered by one Dheeraj Kumar Sheel against Khan at the Tanda police station under SC/ST Act in 2007, charging him with delivering a hate speech and allegedly using derogatory language against then chief minister Mayawati.
The case was registered in Rampur under the Indian Penal Code sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 171-G (false statement in connection with an election).
The police had also invoked section 125 of the Representation of Peoples Act and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Khan.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
