The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain petitions seeking that a first information report be filed against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for hate speech against Muslims, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant told the petitioners to approach the Gauhati High Court. It asked the High Court to hear the matter on priority.

The Supreme Court declined a request to move the matter to another High Court, warning against “convenience forum shopping”, Bar and Bench reported.

The bench said that High Courts are constitutional entities meant to ensure access to justice. “Please do not undermine the sanctity of constitutional High Courts,” the legal news outlet quoted Kant as saying.

Petitions seeking action against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader 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.

In the past month, Sarma has made a series of remarks targeting Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam, calling them “Miyas”. The Assam chief minister had said that it was his job to “make them suffer”.

In Assam, “Miya” is a derogatory word used to...

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