Delhi HC dismisses plea for hate speech FIR against BJP leaders

No cognisable offence was made out, say Delhi police

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a petition by CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and K.M. Tiwari challenging the trial court's refusal to direct the registration of an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and his BJP colleague and MP Pravesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches concerning anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh here.

Justice Chandra Dhari Singh refused to interfere with the trial court's order and said that under the law, the requisite sanction is required to be obtained from the competent authority for the registration of FIR in the present facts.

The judge, who had reserved the verdict on March 25, noted that the Delhi Police had conducted a preliminary inquiry in the matter and informed the trial court that prima facie no cognizable offence was made out and that for ordering any investigation, the trial court was required to take cognizance of the facts and evidence before it, which was not permissible without a valid sanction.

The high court concluded that the trial court therefore rightly decided the petitioners' plea on the point of its maintainability in the absence of a sanction.

The petitioners had claimed in their complaint before the trial court that “Thakur and Verma had sought to incite people as a result of which three incidents of firing took place at two different protest sites in Delhi”.

It was the petitioners' grievance that at the Rithala rally here, Thakur had, on January 27, 2020, egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan — “shoot the traitors”— after lashing out at anti-CAA protesters.

They had further claimed that Mr. Verma had, on January 28, 2020, allegedly made incendiary comments against the anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh.