Preventing a citizen from expressing a bonfide opinion against any bill or law passed by Parliament is violative of the right to free speech and principles of democracy, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have contended before the Delhi High Court while opposing a plea for a hate speech FIR against them in the February 2020 riots here.
The Gandhis, in two separate affidavits, submitted no case was made out for the court to issue direction for registering an FIR against them and there was no requirement to order constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter. No interference and the case of issuance of direction to register an FIR against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is not made out and no interference is called for by this court to pass any order.
The high court, while hearing a batch of petitions related to the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi, had on July 13 allowed several amendment applications wanting to implead political leaders, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, as parties to proceedings seeking FIR and investigation against them for allegedly delivering hate speeches leading to the communal conflagration.
On Monday, a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Amit Sharma listed the matter for further hearing on September 27.
