The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a petition by CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and KM 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, who had reserved the verdict on March 25, 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 said that the trial court rightly decided the petitioners’ plea and that no case for exercise of the high court’s writ jurisdictionwas made out in view of the presence of alternate remedy under the law.
The petitioners had assailed the trial court order before the high court on the ground that a cognisable offence is made out againstthe two leaders in the present case and an FIR should be lodged against them for their alleged hate speeches concerning the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh here and that they were only asking the police to investigate the matter.
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.”
Delhi Police had defended the trial court order, saying that it rightly held that it does not have jurisdiction to deal with the case and referred to the Supreme Court’s judgements which said that if a judge is saying he does not have jurisdiction, he should not comment on merits and that is the right approach.
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.