Supreme Court (SC) on Monday adjourned hearing on a plea filed by CPI-M leader Brinda Karat against the Delhi High Court order which had dismissed a petition challenging the trial court’s refusal for an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Pravesh Verma for allegedly giving hate speeches over anti-CAA protests.
A bench comprising of Justices Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal fixed the hearing on October 3 and clarified that no further adjournments would be granted in the matter.
The bench said that if necessary, the Registry will seek orders from the Chief Justice of India for tagging the present plea for hearing before Justice Sanjiv Khanna-led, which is dealing with the larger issue of hate speech.
Earlier in April this year, the Supreme Court had sought response from the Delhi Police in the matter. The top court had noted that prima facie the stand of the magistrate that sanction was required for registration of the FIR against the BJP leaders was not correct, saying that reasoning of courts below that sanction under Section 196 of the CrPC was required may not be correct.
The Delhi High Court, in June last year, had dismissed the plea filed by CPI-M leaders Karat and K.M. Tiwari against Thakur and Verma for their alleged hate speeches. The high court had declined to interfere with the trial court’s order.
Before the trial court, the petitioners had contended that BJP leaders had sought to incite people as a result of which three incidents of firing took place at two different protest sites in Delhi.
Citing a rally in Delhi in January 2020, the petitioner alleged that Thakur, after criticising the anti-CAA protestors of Shaheen Bagh, incited the crowd to raise incendiary slogans. Also, Verma made an inflammatory speech against the Shaheen Bagh protesters in the same month, claimed the petitioners.
In August 2021, the trial court dismissed petitioners’ complaint.