As per the complaints, the religious sentiments of the complainants and the people of the respective state had been hurt because of the comments made by Thackeray. The Delhi High Court has quashed the summonses issued to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray by multiple courts — including those in Begusarai, Bokaro, Muzaffarpur, Ranchi, Patna, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur — in an alleged case of hate speech. As per the complaints, the religious sentiments of the complainants and the people of the respective state had been hurt because of the comments made by Thackeray. The complaints said the alleged speech was published in a magazine and that it was provocative in nature and caused hurt to religious feelings. According to the complainants the speech was against the basic structure of the constitution which amounted to sedition as it has affected the unity and integrity of India. In a March 13 order released Thursday, the single-judge bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh said: “I am of the view that India is a country which is unique due to various religions, faiths and languages which coexist side by side. Its unity lies in this coexistence. Religious feelings and religious sentiments cannot be so fragile as to be hurt or provoked by a speech of an individual. Religion and faith are not as fragile as human beings. They have survived for centuries and will survive for many more. Faith and religion are more resilient and cannot be hurt or provoked by views of/ instigation by an individual.” Through separate orders, the High Court noted that prior sanction was required of the Centre or state government for initiating proceedings under Section 153A/295A of the IPC and admittedly no such sanction had been taken and that six of seven summoning orders were “liable to be quashed”. With respect to the summoning order issued by a court in Muzaffarpur under IPC Section 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of the peace) the HC held that there had been no inquiry conducted by the Magistrate before proceeding to issue summons. “As held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, conducting inquiry is not an empty formality but the same is a mandate of law,” the HC said before quashing the summoning order. The High Court however refused to interfere with the complaints pending before these courts. By a separate order, the HC quashed the summons issued by a Dhanbad court to Thackeray for alleged commission of offences of murder, rioting and hate speech under IPC. In the complaint made before the Dhanbad court, it was alleged that following a speech by Thackeray in October 2008 several people forcibly entered Howrah-Bombay Mail and created a ruckus wherein one person died. While quashing the summoning order on lack of prior sanction by Centre or state government and violation of provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the High Court noted that the police, after conducting a detailed inquiry, filed a report stating the deceased fell down from train after losing his balance, and the finding has not been challenged.