A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP Delhi MP Parvesh Verma for allegedly making hate speeches in relation to anti-CAA protest.
A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP Delhi MP Parvesh Verma for allegedly making hate speeches in relation to anti-CAA protest.
CPI-M leaders Brinda Karat and K.M. Tiwari had filed a plea seeking direction to the Parliament Street Police Station to file an FIR against the two for promoting enmity, acts intended to outrage religious feelings and criminal intimidation.
The complaint had sought lodging of FIRs under various sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC.
It had also sought action under other sections of the IPC, including 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).
The maximum punishment for the offences is a jail term for seven years.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja dismissed the plea, filed under Section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure for lack of the previous sanction.
"There is no previous sanction obtained by the complainants from the competent authority (Central government) to prosecute the respondents for the offences alleged in the complaint. Hence, in view of the settled position of law, the complaint deserves to be dismissed being not tenable in the eyes of law," the court noted.
Karat approached the court after her written complaints to the Commissioner of Police and the SHO, Parliament Street, failed to elicit any response.
She had told the court that she had written to the commissioner on January 29 and subsequently on 31, while the letter to the SHO Parliament Street was sent on February 2.
The plea was filed after an inflammatory slogan was raised at a public rally addressed by Thakur in January in Delhi. Parvesh Verma had also allegedly passed inflammatory remarks.
Thakur on January 27 had led chants of slogans that called for "shooting down of traitors" as he attacked those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Addressing a public meeting in support of BJP's Rithala candidate - Manish Chaudhary - Singh had linked opposition parties with anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh and then had asked the crowd to raise the controversial slogan that became synonymous with pro-CAA protesters.
As the minister shouted "desh ke gaddaron ko", the crowd responded with chants of "goli maro sa*** ko."
The slogan was first heard in Delhi during a pro-CAA rally by BJP leader Kapil Mishra in December last year. Later, the slogan was heard at various rallies held in support of the controversial citizenship law.
(With inputs from agencies)
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