The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted the Centre time to file its reply in matters related to the Delhi violence. This was after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought time saying that while the Centre was ready with its reply, it needed a few more days to modify the same with the developments that took place on Wednesday.
The court today also issued notice to the Delhi Government, Delhi Police and a few political leaders in connection with a petition filed by Deepak Madan that seeks computation of damage caused to public as well as private property during the riots. This petition seeks action against Waris Pathan, Taahir Hussain, Salman Khurshid, Faizul Hassan, Akbaruddin Owaisi, Sonia Gandhi, Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Sharjeel Imam and Ishrat Jahan for allegedly using hate speech inciting violence. The petitioner has sought action under under sections 153A, 147, 148, and 149 of the Indian Penal Code, as well as, sections 3 and 4 of the Damage to Public Property Act. The petition also seeks to attach their properties in the matter.
It is noteworthy that activist Harsh Mander was one of the main people to move a petition seeking action against those who used hate speech to instigate violence. In fact, before his transfer, it was Justice Murlidhar who had ensured that videos of hate speech were played before the court.
One of these videos was that of Kapil Mishra issuing an ultimatum to the police to evict anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters. Mishra had issued the ultimatum while standing next to a man who was identified as DCP (NE) Ved Prakash Surya after the video was played in court. Justice Murlidhar had virtually castigated SG Mehta demanding to know what was the “appropriate stage” for filing an FIR, before asking the Delhi Police to take a conscious decision with respect to the registration of FIRs and adjourning the case to the next day. But that was when Justice Murlidhar was shunted out of the Delhi High Court and transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
After justice Murlidhar’s transfer the case was taken up by a different bench that granted the Delhi Police a month’s time to file FIRs. When Mander moved Supreme Court against this delay, he faced a stumbling block when questions were raised about a speech made by him at an anti-CAA protest where he had allegedly expressed a lack of trust in the Supreme Court.
Around the same time, a group of ten riot affected people moved Delhi HC with a plea to direct Delhi Police to file FIRs in these cases. The Supreme Court had then instructed the Delhi HC to take up the case without delay. LiveLaw had reported Chief Justice Bobde as observing, “We don’t think the extent of such period of adjourning the matter is justified. We are of the view that the matter be heard on Friday. We don’t want to assume jurisdiction when the High Court is seized of the matter. But such matters should not be delayed for long.”
The case is presently being heard by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Hari Shankar. Other related petitions include one by activist Rahul Roy that seeks medical and humanitarian intervention to riot survivors and those displaced by the violence.
An impleadment application was also filed in Mander’s petition, seeking registeration of FIRs against RJ Sayema, actor Swara Bhaskar, MLA Amanatullah Khan as well as Mander himself in connection with their stand on the CAA and the violence in Delhi. All these matters will now be taken up on March 20.
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