Published 17:16 IST, February 26th 2020
Delhi HC raps police on non-registration of FIR, gives Police Commissioner one day to act
Delhi HC noted in its order that the Police Commissioner would make a conscious decision regarding registering an FIR against leaders delivering hate speeches.
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A Delhi High Court bench comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Talwant Singh on Wednesday asked Special CP Praveen Ranjan to communicate the court’s anguish to the Police Commissioner regarding the non-registration of FIRs against hate speeches made by political leaders such as Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Varma, and Kapil Mishra. In its order, it noted Ranjan’s assurance that the Police Commissioner would take a conscious decision regarding the registration of FIR after looking at all the videos containing inflammatory speeches.
At the same time, the court maintained that no one was above the law and asked the Commissioner to seriously consider the consequences of not registering an FIR. The matter has been adjourned to Thursday.
The arguments in the court
After going through the video of Kapil Mishra, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that its content had no direct connection with the incidents that took place. He said that the registration of FIR is a serious issue and more time was required to go through the material. On the other hand, Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra opined that FIRs ought to be registered as they could be cancelled if proven wrong.
Later, petitioner Harsh Mander’s advocate Colin Gonsalves contended that Anurag Thakur’s ‘Gun down traitors’ comment set the ball rolling for violence. Citing the remarks of Abhay Verma, Parvesh Varma, and Kapil Mishra, Gonsalves alleged that the attackers belonged to the party in power. Immediately, Mehta raised objections and condemned the attempt to demoralise the forces. Imploring upon the bench not to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction based only on three videos, he remarked that hate speeches were from all sides. Thereafter, he mentioned that FIRs would be filed at an appropriate time.
Justice Muralidhar slams police on non-registration of FIR
In a sharp response to the Solicitor General, Justice Muralidhar noted that Delhi was burning. Highlighting that it was the constitutional duty of the court to protect lives, he questioned Mehta on the non-registration of FIRs despite the presence of multiple inflammatory videos. Furthermore, he observed that not registering an FIR sent a wrong message which would not deter other people from repeating the slogan. So far, there have been 22 casualties in the violence while 189 people have sustained injuries.
17:16 IST, February 26th 2020