Hate-speech: Cal HC judge gets death threats on X after denying bail to influencer

Time of India

2 days ago

Kolkata: Multiple X handles have posted death threats to Calcutta High Court's Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee after the judge on Tuesday refused to grant interim bail to a social media influencer in a hate-speech case.
The reply threads to these posts turned into a hotbed of vitriol as multiple posts hurled abuses at the judge. Most of these X accounts were pseudonymous and used unrelated images as display pictures.
One user claimed that the judge deserved "unknown gunmen", while another said that "public should take care of him whenever he is spotted..." Some users sought the judge's address and phone number. Screenshots of Justice Chatterjee's courtroom were shared on X, at least one user posted the judge's bio (from the NGT website where he once served) and some users highlighted that the judge had been a student of Hooghly Mohsin College.
Interestingly, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the Bengali literary great who penned India's national song 'Vande Mataram', was once a student of the college.
The deluge of threats prompted several X users to report these posts, by tagging Kolkata Police. Police commissioner Manoj Verma or joint commissioner of police (crime) Rupesh Kumar, however, did not respond to calls and texts by TOI. Speaking on the issue, Calcutta HC's registrar general Nabanita Ray said that the matter would be looked into after June 9, when the court opens after the vacation.
Justice Chatterjee, during the case hearing on Tuesday, had observed: "In a country like ours, people of different faiths, communities and linguistic backgrounds coexist. Therefore, one should exercise caution when making any comments in the media or before the public. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, in a series of judgments, has condemned incidents of hate speech, dog whistling and making disparaging remarks that may hurt any section of the people of our country.
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The Calcutta High Court had asked the state to produce the case diary on Thursday for the next vacation judge to examine the case before reaching a decision on whether the 4th-year law student could be given interim bail.