By IANS,
New Delhi : “All of us are Indians and there is no difference between people coming from various regions”, the Supreme Court observed Thursday while dealing with a petition against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly running a hate campaign against north Indians.
“What’s the difference between north Indians and Indians. All of us are Indians,” a bench of Justices B.N. Aggrawal and G.S. Singhvi said, while posting for Monday a public interest petition seeking judicial inquiry into the killing of a Bihari youth, Rahul Raj, by police and the killing of another north Indian in Mumbai last month.
On Tuesday, the apex court had observed that if there is political will such hate campaigns would not occur in the country.
The bench said it would hear the matter along with another related petition filed earlier seeking appropriate directions to the government to ensure that the country’s unity was not threatened by vested interests fomenting regional chauvinism.
Rahul Raj, a 23-year-old resident of Patna, was killed in firing by police after he hijacked a bus in Mumbai on Oct 27 at gunpoint and also fired at people. A day later, Dharam Dev Rai (25), a resident of Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, was beaten to death in a local train in Mumbai after a brawl.