The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on March 4 a plea seeking lodging of FIRs against BJP leaders — Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra and Abhay Verma — for their purported hate speeches which allegedly led to recent violence in Delhi in which over 40 people lost their lives and scores injured.
The petition filed by 10 victims of the violence was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde which said it would be heard on Wednesday.
"We are not saying that people should die. That kind of pressure we are not equipped to handle. We cannot stop things from happening. We cannot give preventive reliefs. We feel a kind of pressure on us," the CJI said when senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for petitioners, sought urgent listing of the plea.
The bench, also comprising Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, said the court can deal with a situation only after it takes place and it is not equipped to prevent it.
"The kind of pressure on us, you should know, we cannot handle that," the bench said, adding, "We also read newspapers and the comments which are made. It is like as if the court is responsible".
"We would wish peace but you know that there are limitations," the CJI told Gonsalves who said that the court can prevent any further deterioration of the situation.
When the bench said that the Delhi High Court is already seized of petitions on Delhi violence, Gonsalves said the high court has deferred the matter for almost six weeks and it was disappointing.
"When people are still dying then why cannot the high court hear it urgently," he said and urged the apex court to list the plea for hearing on Tuesday. The bench agreed to list the petition for hearing on Wednesday and said, "We will see what we can do".
The plea has sought several directions, including constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) consisting of officers from outside Delhi and headed by an officer of "integrity and repute" and capable of acting in an independent manner.
It has also sought a direction to a retired judge to enquire into the "communal attacks" and to identify the police persons involved in rioting and direct that such cops be dismissed from service in accordance with law.