Delhi Riots hate speech: Delhi High Court expresses displeasure at "delinquent approach" of lawyers

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the "delinquent" manner in which the petitions seeking prosecution of politicians for their alleged hate speech during the Delhi Riots was being dealt with by lawyers [Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq and Ors v. Union of India and Ors]..A Division Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that though the Court had issued notice to several politicians to make them respondents in the case, they could not be served because the lawyers had either not filed the process fee or failed to provide proper addresses.Notice was issued to Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi as well as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, among several others..The Bench remarked that the counsel were not showing any urgency in the matter, and there did not seem to be any solemnity attached to the petitions. The judges noted that though the petition by Lawyers’ Voice had sought to make over 20 people as respondents in the case, they had failed to provide correct addresses of at least nine of them, including Umar Khalid, Maulana Taukir Raza and former Bombay High Court judge, Justice BG Kolse Patil.The Court, therefore, told advocate Satya Ranjan Swain, who appeared for Lawyers’ Voice, to either provide the correct addresses within two days or delete them from the array of parties.“One of the persons made party in your application is a retired judge. He is a retired judge and you can't find his address? We will give you two days’ time to provide their addresses but if you can’t, you will delete them from the memo of parties,” the judges said..Addressing the counsel appearing in the petition by Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq, the Bench said that it was on their insistence that the apex court asked the High Court to decide the matter in three months, yet they had not filed the process fee.“You want to implead certain individuals but you are yet to file the process fee. That is basic. How are notices going to be issued? This is the matter where the Supreme Court has, on your insistence, asked us to dispose of the matter quickly yet you have not filed a process fee. How are we going to do it?” Justice Mridul said..The High Court has now issued fresh notice to the proposed respondents and given the lawyers two days’ time to file the process fee and provide correct addresses. The case will now be considered on April 29..The High Court has been hearing a batch of petitions seeking registration of first information reports (FIRs) against politicians for the speeches they delivered during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests that allegedly instigated the riots in North East Delhi and ultimately led to the death of over 50 people.While one of the petitions, filed by Farooq, seeks registration of FIRs against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders like Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, the petition by Lawyers’ Voice seeks prosecution of several opposition leaders including the Gandhis, Sisodia, Asaduddin Owaisi as well as Justice (retd) Patil.The other petitions sought a court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the role of the Delhi Police in the riots, while the one filed by social activist Ajay Gautam sought a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the protests, alleging that there was an ‘international conspiracy’ and that the activists received ‘foreign funding’.Though many of these pleas were filed in the immediate aftermath of the riots, they have been pending before the Court since..Farooq had approached the Supreme Court in December last year seeking early disposal of the matter. The apex court had on December 17 asked the High Court to deal with the petitions as early as possible and decide them within three months..Delhi Riots hate speech case: Delhi High Court notice to BJP, Congress, AAP leaders, former Bombay HC judge on plea to implead them