The Assam BJP uploaded on Saturday a video showing an image of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma firing at men wearing skull caps, with the caption “point blank shot” — it deleted the video Sunday. This video, coming after that rhetoric, is, by any definition of the term, hate speech. In a diverse country, hate speech is not always only an individual offensive expression or aberration. But the same Court has also engaged, intensively, with hate speech as a constitutional harm, one that legitimises the exclusion of communities. In October 2022, the Court gave a seminal order — directing police authorities to register FIRs suo motu in cases involving hate speech without waiting for a formal complaint.

Source: Indian Express February 10, 2026 12:40 UTC