Delhi riots: HC notice to Cong, BJP leaders on pleas over hate speech

New Delhi, March 22 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued fresh notice on pleas seeking impleadment of various politic and others on allegations of hate speeches linked to the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests during 2020 Delhi riots.

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Sahib Verma, Kapil Mishra, and others are among those named in the list.

However, while issuing the notice, a division bench headed by Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that those who are on the list are just proposed respondents and not accused persons.

It clarified that the responses have been sought as the petitioner made allegations against them. The bench was dealing with a bunch of pleas related to the hate speeches that allegedly fuelled the riots that broke out in the national capital.

Earlier, a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta had sought responses of the proposed respondents to ascertain whether they should be added or not.

The bench, during the hearing, observed that they cannot be impleaded if there is opposition.

In one of the pleas, petitioner Mujtaba sought impleadment of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma, and Abhay Verma as respondents while Lawyers Voice sought impleadment of as many as 20 people.

These 20 include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manish Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, Waris Pathan, Akbaruddin Owaisi, Mehmood Pracha, Harsh Mander, Mufti Mohd. Ismail, Swara Bhaskar, Umar Khalid, Maulana Habib ur Rehman, Mohd Dilwar, Maulana Shreyar Raza, Maulana Hamood Raza, Maulana Taukir, Faizul Hassan, Tauqeer Raza Khan, and B.G. Kolse Patil.