No gag order on Himanta for now as Gauhati HC issues notice on PIL over ‘hate speech’ claims

New Delhi: The Gauhati High Court on Thursday issued notice to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Union of India, the State of Assam and the Assam Director General of Police on a public interest litigation alleging repeated hate speeches by the Chief Minister targeting the ‘Miya’ Muslim community.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, however, declined to pass any immediate ad-interim gag order restraining Sarma from making such statements.

When senior counsel pressed for an ad-interim restraint, the court orally observed that “it will be a normal restraint while this petition is pending consideration”.

The bench directed issuance of notice on the main prayers as well as the interim relief and posted the matter for further hearing after the Bihu holidays in April.

The PIL, numbered PIL No. 14/2026 and titled Dr Hirendranath Gohain and two others vs Union of India and three others, along with connected matters, was filed by Assamese scholar Dr Hiren Gohain and others after the Supreme Court’s February 16 direction that petitioners approach the High Court first.

The petitioners are represented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, C U Singh and Meenakshi Arora.

They have sought directions to restrain the Chief Minister from making hate speeches and from inciting violence against minority communities.

The petition also seeks registration of an FIR and an independent SIT probe into alleged offences under Sections 196, 197 and 353 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with promoting enmity, assertions prejudicial to national integration and public mischief.

The petitioners have further sought a declaration that Sarma has violated his constitutional oath of office, and asked for a commission headed by a former High Court judge to monitor the investigation.

They have also sought directions to the police to act suo motu against hate speeches by public figures.

During the hearing, the petitioners highlighted a series of alleged remarks by Sarma since 2023, arguing they create a “climate of impunity” and target the Bengal-origin Muslim community derogatorily referred to as ‘Miya Muslims’.

Singhvi submitted that the Chief Minister has been engaged in a “repetitive, habitual and consistent vituperative campaign”, which, he argued, violates Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, the Preamble’s emphasis on secularism and fraternity, and the Chief Minister’s oath of office.

Singhvi also referred to a BJP-shared video which, he said, showed the Chief Minister aiming at animated Muslim figures with captions such as “Point blank shot” and “No Mercy”.

C U Singh pointed to alleged statements including: “My job is to make Miya people suffer”, suggestions to pay rickshaw drivers only Rs 4 instead of Rs 5, claims of deleting 4-5 lakh ‘Miya voters’ from electoral rolls, “flood jihad” remarks linking a Meghalaya university to Guwahati floods, and assertions that ‘Miyas’ would not be allowed to “take over Assam”.

Arora cited alleged claims of Muslims reaching 40 per cent of Assam’s population, blaming the community for rising vegetable prices, and urging people to “trouble Miyas” so they leave the state.

After arguments, the court remarked that the speeches cited “did show fissiparous tendency”. 

It, however, decided to first issue notices before considering any interim restraint, observing that the notices themselves would serve as a “normal restraint” during pendency of the petition.

Notices were accepted on behalf of the Union of India and the State of Assam. Separate notice was issued to Sarma.

The matter will now be taken up after the Bihu festival in April.

The development comes weeks after the Supreme Court, while refusing to entertain Article 32 petitions on the issue, asked the Gauhati High Court to expedite hearing if approached.