Supreme Court: In a petition filed seeking registration of a criminal case against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (‘CAA’), the division bench of KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, JJ. said that the reasoning of the lower Courts that sanction under Section 196 of the CrPC was required from the Union Government might not be correct and issued notice to Delhi Government and Delhi Police in the present matter.
In 2022, Delhi High Court rejected the plea filed by Communist Party leaders Brinda Karat and KM Tiwari, wherein they challenged the Trial Court decision refusing to order registration of first information reports against the two BJP leaders, as in 2020 during the Delhi legislative assembly elections, both made hate speeches when the anti-CAA protests were going on in Delhi. The High Court rejected the plea and said that the petitioners have bypassed the remedies under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘CrPC’).
The Bench said that the reasoning of the Lower Courts that sanction under Section 196 of CrPC was required from the Union Government might not be correct.
Further, commenting upon the remark “desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaron…” Justice KM Joseph said that here ‘Gaddar’ means traitor and ‘goli maaron’ was not in terms of medicine prescription.
Thus, the Bench issued notice to the Delhi Government and Delhi Police.
[Brinda Karat v. State of NCT of Delhi, decided on 17-04-2023]
Source: Press