Delhi HC dismisses plea for hate speech FIR against BJP leaders

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition by CPIM leaders Brinda Karat and KM Tiwari challenging the trial courts refusal to direct the registration of an FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and his BJP colleague and MP Pravesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches concerning antiCAA protest at Shaheen BaghJustice Chandra Dhari Singh refused to interfere with the trial courts order and said that under the law the requisite sanction is required to be obtained from the competent authority for the registration of FIR in the present facts The judge who had reserved the verdict on March 25 noted that the Delhi Police had conducted a preliminary inquiry in the matter and informed the trial court that prima facie no cognizable offence was made out and that for ordering any investigation the trial court was required to take cognizance of the facts and evidence before it which was not permissible without a valid sanctionThe high court concluded that the trial court therefore rightly decided the petitioners plea on the point of its maintainability in the absence of a sanction The petitioners had claimed in their complaint before the trial court that Thakur and Verma had sought to incite people as a result of which three incidents of firing took place at two different protest sites in Delhi It was the petitioners grievance that at the Rithala rally here Thakur had on January 27 2020 egged on the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan shoot the traitors after lashing out at antiCAA protestersThey had further claimed that Verma had on January 28 2020 allegedly made incendiary comments against the antiCAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh The trial court had on August 26 2021 dismissed the petitioners complaint on the ground that it was not sustainable as the requisite sanction from the competent authority ie the central government was not obtained The high court saidThe trial court cannot direct registration of FIR or investigation into an offence while exercising power under Section 1563 of Code of Criminal Procedure concerning offence where the sanction is required to be taken before a court can take cognizance Once the investigating agency upon conducting its preliminary inquiry has come to the conclusion that prima facie no cognizable offence is made out the ACMM must apply its mind to direct the investigation or for registration of FIR However as discussed earlier for the purpose of ordering any investigation the ACMM in the instant case would be required to take cognizance of the factsevidence before it which is not permissible without there being a valid sanction the high court saidIn its 66page order the high court noted that an additional layer of scrutiny albeit discretionary is provided under Section 1963 of the Code by way of a sanction to avoid ordering an investigation into certain offences including those concerning hate speeches in a routine mannerIf such investigations are ordered in a routine manner for the offences under Section 295A 153A and Section 505 that would lead to a situation where thousands of FIRs would be registered to settle scores against political opponents across the country This would not only be undesirable and an abuse of process but would also result in choking of the already overburdened criminal justice machinery the high court stated It further asserted that no case for exercise of the high courts writ jurisdiction was made out in view of the presence of alternate remedy under the law including filing a revision petition before the appellate court and no fundamental or legal right of the petitioners stood violated The petitioners had assailed the trial court order before the high court on the ground that a cognisable offence is made out against the two leaders in the present case and an FIR should be lodged against them for their alleged hate speeches concerning the antiCAA protest at Shaheen Bagh here and that they were only asking the police to investigate the matterAlso Read Delhi High Court allows Jacqueline Fernandez to travel abroad for IIFA awardsDelhi Police had defended the trial court order saying that it rightly held that it does not have jurisdiction to deal with the case and referred to the Supreme Courts judgements which said that if a judge is saying he does not have jurisdiction he should not comment on merits and that is the right approach In the complaint Karat and Tiwari had sought lodging of FIRs under various sections including 153A promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion race place of birth residence language etc 153B imputations assertions prejudicial to national integration and 295A deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs of the IPCIt 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 of seven yearsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever