The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Delhi Police to take a “conscious decision” on registering FIRs against politicians who allegedly gave inflammatory speeches. The politicians included but is not limited to BJP’s Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma and Kapil Mishra, according to Livelaw.
The court ordered the police commissioner to watch the video clips of hate speech by political leaders and take a conscious decision. The matter will be taken up again on Thursday.
A bench of justices S Muralidhar and Talwant Singh was hearing a petition by activist Harsh Mander who sought registration of FIR against politicians for hate speech and probe into “police inaction” during the Delhi riots, the Livelaw report said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for Delhi police, said provocative statements were also made from the other side.
“There are videos from all sides. Let the petitioner inform the court as to why he only chose three clips in a PIL. There’s selective public outrage based,” Mehta said, adding that FIR will be registered at an appropriate time.
To this, Justice S Muralidhar said, “When is the appropriate time, Mr Mehta? The city is burning”.
During the hearing, the court asked Mehta and deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Rajesh Deo if they had seen the video clip of Mishra making alleged hate speeches.
While Mehta maintained that he does not watch television and has not seen those clips, Deo said he has watched the video of BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma, but not that of Mishra.
Justice Muralidhar said he was “really amazed” at the state of affairs of the Delhi police”. “This is really concerning. There are so many TVs in your office, how can police officer say that he hasn’t watched the videos,” he said and asked the court staff to play a video clip of Mishra making hate speeches in the courtroom.
The court, according to Bar & Bench, also pointed out that a DCP could been seen standing next to Mishra in the video. Justice Muralidhar then told Mehta, “Now that you have watched it, you advice the Commissioner so that we don’t have to pass any order,” the report added.
(With PTI inputs)