The Delhi High Court dismissed a batch of petitions seeking action (registration of FIRs) against politicians over alleged hate speeches that were claimed to have contributed to the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain also rejected petitions seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into alleged police atrocities at Jamia Millia Islamia in 2019 during a protest march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The order was passed on a batch of petitions seeking the registration of FIRs against politicians over speeches delivered during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the petitioners alleged had incited the 2020 North-East Delhi riots that claimed more than 50 lives.
One of the petitions, filed by Shaik Mujtaba Farooq, sought FIRs against BJP leaders, including Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, as per the report of Bar and Bench.
Another petition, filed by Lawyers’ Voice, sought prosecution of several opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Manish Sisodia and Asaduddin Owaisi, as well as a retired High Court judge.
Petitions were also filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat, and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind sought a court-monitored investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged role of the Delhi Police in the riots.
In a separate plea, activist Ajay Gautam sought an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the protests, alleging an “international conspiracy” and claiming that the activists involved had received “foreign funding”.
Meanwhile, several students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) also approached the Delhi High Court, seeking an SIT probe into alleged police atrocities on the university campus, Bar and Bench reported.
On February 24, 2020, communal violence erupted in northeast Delhi amid protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), resulting in at least 53 deaths and leaving around 700 people injured.
The clashes involved incidents of arson and vandalism, making them one of the deadliest episodes of communal violence in the national capital in recent years.
