The Delhi High Court Monday sought the stand of several political leaders, including Anurag Thakur (BJP), Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (Congress), Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others, on pleas to make them parties to proceedings seeking FIR and investigation against them for allegedly delivering hate speeches leading to the February 2020 riots amidst protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi, issued notice to all proposed respondents — persons against whom action is sought in two petitions. One impleadment is filed by petitioner Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq who has sought FIR for hate speech against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma.
The other application is by petitioner Lawyers Voice which has sought the registration of hate speech FIRs against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan, AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, former AIMIM MLA Warris Pathan, Mehmood Pracha, Harsh Mander, Mufti Mohammad Ismail, Swara Bhasker, Umar Khalid, BG Kolse Patil former Bombay High Court Judge and others. Before we implead, we will have to give them an opportunity. We can’t implead (without hearing) if they oppose it, the court said.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Farooq, asked the court to issue notice on his petition. Senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for Lawyers Voice, said that apart from political figures, certain religious leaders are also being sought to be joined as parties and their speeches are mentioned in the application.
We will come to speech once we have issued notice on the application seeking impleadment, the court said. Lawyer Amit Mahajan, appearing for Delhi Police, said it would not file a fresh response to the applications.
The court had earlier granted time to petitioners’ advocates for filing of applications for adding as parties certain political leaders to the pleas alleging that they delivered hate speeches which led to the 2020 violence. In the application filed by lawyers Sneha Mukherjee and Siddharth Seem, Farooq has stated that after the political leaders named in his plea engaged in the hate speech and exhortation to murder peaceful protestors, attacks broke out all across Delhi.
Lawyers Voice, represented by advocates Satya Ranjan Swain and Archana Sharma, has stated in the application that public discourse cannot become a tool to promote speech that is inimical to public order and if FIR is not registered, the wrongdoers will be encouraged. Our Constitution stands for communal harmony and peace. The misinformation/hate campaigns run in the name of Anti-CAA protest is aggravated by such speeches. A provoked mind is prone to violence and has the potential to bring along insurmountable and unimaginable sufferings, the application stated.
Apart from seeking action against those who allegedly gave the hate speeches, the other petitions have also sought reliefs which include setting up of an SIT, FIRs against police officers who were allegedly involved in the violence, and disclosure of persons arrested and detained. In its response to these prayers, police has earlier said it has already created three special investigation teams (SITs) under the crime branch and there was no evidence till now that its officers were involved in the violence.
The police, in its affidavit earlier, has said that investigation into the riots have not revealed any evidence till now that political leaders instigated or participated in the violence. Earlier, while asking the parties to collate the issues, the court had noted that the Supreme Court, in an order of December 17, 2021, has requested it to dispose of expeditiously, preferably within three months, a plea seeking registration of FIR against some politicians for their alleged hate speeches which purportedly led to the north-east Delhi riots last year.
The matter would be heard next on March 22.
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