Jamia violence case: Direct allegations against Home Minister irresponsible, SG tells Delhi HC

During the hearing on a group of petitions seeking independent inquiry into the violence that broke out in Jamia Millia Islamia University last December, Solicitor General submitted before the Delhi High Court that direct allegations against the Home Minister Amit Shah are irresponsible statements and should not be allowed by the court.

While addressing the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan, the Solicitor General submitted that the allegations made against the Home Minister in the rejoinder amount to irresponsible pleadings by the Petitioner as they are not backed by substantive evidence, reports LiveLaw.in.

The Solicitor General was responding to the rejoinder filed by one of the Petitioners, Nabila Hasan, which states that the Home Minister himself gave orders to the Delhi Police to mercilessly beat up the students who were carrying out a peaceful march.

'You cannot malign a constitutional functionary like this', SG Tushar Mehta submitted.

While arguing that the said allegations expose the real intention of the Petitioner behind moving the present petition, the Solicitor General asked the court to deal with such allegations seriously. He said: 'Irresponsible pleadings are becoming the order of the day. Such statements might look good in public speeches but not in affidavits submitted before a constitutional court. Article 226 of the Constitution cannot be invoked for such unsubstantiated claims.'

After taking these objections into consideration, and posing the same to the Petitioner, the court noted in the order that the Petitioner is willing to expunge the said allegations from the rejoinder.

Subsequently, the court adjourned the matter till next Monday. The Petitioners are directed to submit a consolidated list of issues to assist the court during the proceedings. The said list is also supposed to be circulated among the Petitioners and must be served to the other party before the next date of hearing.

The case pertains to violence that broke out at the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia University last December. While the police claims that the force used was proportionate to the violence committed by the mob, there are many students who are severely injured and are seeking registering of FIRs against the erring officials as well as compensation for their injuries.