New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Monday dismissed a batch of petitions seekingregistration of FIRs against politicians over alleged hate speeches linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.
A division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain also rejected petitions seeking an independent investigation into alleged police excesses during the December 2019 violence at Jamia Millia Islamia.
“For the reasons mentioned in the judgments, both the petitions (batch) are dismissed,” the bench said while pronouncing the verdict. The detailed judgments are yet to be made public.
The petitions on the riots were filed in 2020 and sought a range of directions, including FIRs against political leaders, a court-monitored investigation and action against police personnel alleged to have failed in their duties.
One of the principal pleas, filed by Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq, sought FIRs against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma and Abhay Verma over speeches allegedly linked to the violence.
Another petition by Lawyers Voice, a registered society of lawyers, across sought action over alleged hate speeches by several opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, Akbaruddin Owaisi and Waris Pathan.
CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat had sought an independent probe into allegations against the Delhi Police, the Rapid Action Force and other state functionaries.
Another petitioner, activist Ajay Gautam, sought an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into alleged foreign funding and an “international conspiracy” behind the anti-CAA protests.
The riots broke out in northeast Delhi in February 2020 amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. At least 53 people were killed and hundreds injured in the violence.
The petitions had remained pending for years, with the Supreme Court repeatedly asking the High Court to deal with them expeditiously. In December 2021, the apex court had asked the High Court to decide one of the petitions seeking FIRs and investigation against politicians preferably within three months.
The High Court was asked again in October 2023 to hear the matters early.
The issue had also come up before the High Court last year, when the bench questioned the need for parallel proceedings after being told that a similar matter was already before the Supreme Court.
The petitioners, however, argued that their prayers went beyond the relief available through ordinary criminal proceedings, including a demand for a Probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from outside Delhi.
The Delhi Police had opposed the pleas, maintaining that investigations into the riots had not established that political leaders instigated or participated in the violence. It had also pointed to existing legal remedies against police inaction.
The court’s dismissal closes the latest round of litigation seeking a fresh or independent probe into the riots and alleged hate speeches. However, the detailed judgments will be significant in showing how the bench dealt with the petitioners’ allegations, the status of existing investigations and the overlap with proceedings before the Supreme Court.
The court also dismissed petitions concerning the alleged police violence at Jamia during the anti-CAA protests. Students had sought an independent probe and, in some cases, transfer of investigations from the Delhi Police to an outside agency.
Aditya Edara is a TPSJ alum, currently interning with ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)