BH CORRESPONDENT, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear the petition against BJP leaders, who have been accused of hate speeches on Wednesday. BJP leader Kapil Mishra and others have been involved in controversy for their provocative speeches during Delhi Assembly election.
The Delhi High Court had last week given the Delhi Police four weeks time to give an update on action against the leaders — Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Pravesh Verma — accused of hate speeches and inciting violence over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest.
At least 46 people died and more than 400 people were injured in Northeast Delhi violence due to CAA. The main accused in this case BJP leader Mishra was seen giving an ultimatum to Shaheen Bagh protesters one day before the violence broke out. The PIL claimed these hate speeches allegedly triggered the violence.
Chief Justice SA Bobde asked whether any reason had been given by the High Court for the four-week gap. “We would wish peace but you know that there are limitations to our power. There is some expectation, which we can’t do. We will take it up on Wednesday. Let us see what we can do,” he said.
On February 26, a High Court bench headed by S Muralidhar had told the Delhi Police that there should be no delay in registering FIRs over the hate speeches, urging the cops to “seriously consider consequences” of not doing so.
The judge was transferred and the case was taken up by Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar, who, on a Delhi Police request for more time, granted the Centre four weeks.
