SC rejects PIL to ban messaging app WhatsApp
Earlier, the petitioner had approached the Kerala High Court seeking directions to the central government to ban WhatsApp if it does not comply with the orders issued by government authorities.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Delhi government on a plea by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat seeking registration of FIRs against Union minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches.
The case dates back to 2020 in the backdrop of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Delhi riots that followed.
While issuing the notice, a bench of Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagarathna observed that the reasoning of courts below that sanction under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was required may not be correct.
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“Goli Maron desh Ke gaddaro” was not in terms of medicine prescription certainly as Gaddar means traitor I believe, Justice Joseph remarked while interpreting Thakur’s remark.
Brinda Karat approached the top court along with K M Tiwari against a June 2022 Delhi High Court order which had rejected their plea. Both Karat and Tiwari had moved the high court challenging a trial court decision that had refused to order registration of FIRs against the two BJP leaders.
The speeches by the two leaders were made during the Delhi assembly elections in 2020, when the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests were ongoing in the national capital.
The high court in its ruling had expressed concern at the petitioners bypassing remedies under the CrPC in this case, terming it a trend and a ‘worrying phenomenon that has gained traction and is in vogue these days’.
Further, the police’s status report had found that no cognisable offence had been made out.
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