The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to collect information from states and Union Territories regarding the preventive measures taken by them to curb cases of hate speech, Live Law reported.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka, and JB Pardiwala said that in some Supreme Court judgements, states and Union Territories were directed to prevent cases of hate speech. The compiled information will help in knowing whether they were followed or not, the court added.

The judges directed the secretary of the Union home ministry to present the information in a booklet before the bench within six weeks.

“As the first step, at least this information should be before us,” the bench said, according to PTI. “Which states are proactive, which are not acting at all, which have acted partially…”

The court passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions related to hate speeches and rumour-mongering.

It included the petition related to inflammatory slogans against Muslims during a Hindutva event in New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on August 8, while another sought directions to the Centre to examine the international laws relating to hate speech, according to Live Law.

During the hearing on Thursday, one of the counsels representing the petitioners said recent instances of hate speech show that court’s directions have not been followed by the states and Union Territories.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing on behalf of the Centre, said it will ask states and Union Territories about the progress on Supreme Court’s directives.