‘Hate Speeches Get Us Nowhere; Wounds Inflicted By Fire May Heal, But Not Those Caused By Words’: Justice KV Viswanathan

“Hate speeches get us nowhere”, remarked Supreme Court judge Justice KV Viswanathan today, while dealing with the plea of Wajahat Khan (complainant in Sharmistha Panoli’s case), who is facing complaints/FIRs in multiple states over alleged offensive remarks in his old social media posts.

A bench of Justices Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh was considering Khan’s plea for consolidation of the FIRs lodged against him over alleged hurting of religious sentiments through the social media posts.

Notably, the FIRs were lodged after Khan complained against influencer and law student Sharmistha Panoli, who was arrested and subsequently released on interim bail.

After hearing Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu (for Khan), the Supreme Court today stayed Khan’s arrest in FIRs registered in states other than West Bengal. Interestingly, the senior counsel opened submissions with a remark that Khan is perhaps reaping what he sow. The bench recorded the same in its order. After dictating the order, Justice Viswanathan also referred to the famous saying that wounds inflicted by fire may heal, but those inflicted by the tongue would not.

Shortly after the order was passed, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who was present in Court for another matter, drew the Court’s attention to another quote by Martin Luther King Junior – “hate cannot drive out hate, only love can”. “This retaliation can be endless”, he remarked.

Case Title: WAZAHAT KHAN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 247/2025