From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Spreme Court on Monday issued notice in the plea for FIRs against Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma for their alleged hate speech at a time when the protests took place against the Citizenship Amendment on a petition by CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat.
A Bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna orally observed that the reasoning of courts below that sanction under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was required may not be correct.
“Goli Maron desh Ke gaddaro was not in terms of medicine prescription certainly as Gaddar means traitor I believe, Justice Joseph remarked while interpreting Thakur’s remark.
The Court was hearing an appeal against a June 2022 Delhi High Court judgment which rejected the plea filed by CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and KM Tiwari challenging a trial court decision that had refused to order registration of FIRs against the two BJP leaders.
The speeches by the two leaders were made during the Delhi assembly elections in 2020, when the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests were ongoing in the national capital.
Notably, the High Court in its ruling had expressed concern at the petitioners bypassing remedies under the CrPC in this case, terming it a trend and a ‘worrying phenomenon that has gained traction and is in vogue these days’.
Further, the police’s status report had found that no cognisable offence had been made out.
