SC asks Delhi HC to decide expeditiously plea seeking FIR against BJP leaders for alleged hate speech

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Delhi High Court to expeditiously decide, preferably within three months, a plea seeking registration of FIR against BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma, and Abhay Verma, for allegedly making hateful comments to incite during the last year's Delhi riots .

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioners, submitted before a bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao that petitioners were losing hope as the high court was delaying the proceedings, despite an earlier direction by the apex court to decide the matters in a time-bound manner. He added that in March last year, the apex court had asked the Delhi High Court to decide the matter in a time-bound manner.

The petitioners argued that there was a straightforward case for registration of FIR based on video evidence of speeches already in public domain. It was argued that the delay in deciding the matter is not justified. The counsel submitted before the bench that the hearing on their petition is yet to commence.

The bench replied that it can only ask the high court to hear this matter and that is the only relief, which it can grant. The counsel insisted on arguing the petition before the top court.

The bench replied that it appreciated the counsel's concern and 'cannot do anything after the matter is sent back to the high court'. Gonsalves asked the top court to allocate the matter to another bench. However, the bench did not agree.

The bench said it is not inclined to entertain the petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution and noted Gonsalves submissions that no progress has been made on the petition, though this court directed the high court to decide the petition expeditiously.

The bench said: "We request the high court to decide the writ petition expeditiously, preferably within a period of three months."

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Mohd. Nazim and others seeking FIR against Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and Abay Verma for allegedly making hate speeches to incite people during the Delhi riots in 2020.