Supreme Court finds ‘no good reason’ to entertain pleas for ‘hate speech’ FIR against Assam CM

Supreme Court directs petitioners to approach Gauhati HC for action against Assam CM over controversial firearm video.

The Supreme Court on Monday (February 16, 2026) found “no good reason” to entertain a series of petitions seeking a criminal investigation against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for serially indulging in communal speeches and for a social media post, since deleted, depicting him discharging a firearm toward an animated image of two visibly Muslim men.

Instead, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant asked the petitioners, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, to approach the State High Court despite the petitioners pointing out that Mr. Sarma was the “boss of Assam”.

The apex court declined to entertain the petition though agreeing with the petitioners that no political leader or constitutional office-holders should conduct himself in a manner which would harm the secular ethos and morality enshrined in the Constitution, especially when elections were closing in.

The petitioner-parties have accused Mr. Sarma of indulging in a “sustained pattern of hate speeches”. They said the social media post, circulated in the public domain as a video, on February 7, 2026 from the “official handle of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Assam on X (formerly Twitter), namely, ‘BJP Assam Pradesh’ (@BJP4Assam) and thereafter widely disseminated, has been the most blatant and disturbing manifestation of the pattern complained of”.

The petition said that the video was removed from the public domain following severe backlash. However, the material continued to be widely circulated and disseminated through multiple other accounts and platforms.

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