The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed petitions seeking first information reports (FIR) against various political leaders for alleged hate speeches that purportedly incited the 2020 northeast Delhi riots , which claimed over 50 lives.
Noting, what it said was, an element of “political selectivity” in putting records before it, the court said it found no exceptional circumstances warranting the exercise of its jurisdiction to issue such a direction.
Refusal to shift investigation from Delhi Police
Accordingly, the writ petitions, together with all pending applications, stand dismissed. They were hearing petitions seeking criminal action against BJP MP Anurag Thakur, Delhi government ministers Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma, and opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Sisodia, and Akbaruddin Owaisi by petitioners including CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, and Lawyers Voice, among others. The Delhi Police , represented by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju along with special public prosecutor Rajat Nair and advocate Dhruv Pande, submitted that the petitions selectively targeted identified political and public figures belonging to different parties and groups. The law officer argued that the petitions were politically motivated and sought to invoke the court’s jurisdiction against specific individuals while overlooking the broader factual and legal context surrounding the incidents. In its verdict, the court also rejected the plea seeking transfer of the investigation to an independent agency or the constitution of a Special Investigation Team comprising officers not associated with the Delhi Police. The court observed that ordering a wholesale transfer of investigations or directing a roving inquiry into the conduct of police officials at this stage could have a bearing on several criminal proceedings currently pending before courts exercising jurisdiction over the respective matters.
In a 38-page verdict, a bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain observed that “We find no exceptional circumstance warranting exercise of the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court to direct registration of further FIRs, constitute an independent investigative mechanism, order wholesale further investigation into allegations against police officials, issue additional blanket directions regarding preservation of evidence, or grant further general directions relating to compensation and rehabilitation…
“The allegations against some police personnel being engaged in the riots, even if assumed to be correct, cannot automatically lead to the conclusion that the entire investigative machinery of the Delhi Police is institutionally incapable of conducting a fair investigation,” the bench said.
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