Anti-CAA Protests: Court Refuses to Allow FIR Against BJP Leaders
Ms Karat has alleged that Thakur had incited the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan – “shoot the traitors” – amid the protests against the CAA.
By Rakesh Raman
A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat seeking a First Information Report (FIR) against BJP minister Anurag Thakur and another BJP leader and MP Parvesh Verma.
The petition was filed for the BJP leaders’ hate speech about protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
According to an NDTV report, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Vishal Pahuja rejected the complaint saying the Central Government has to allow the FIR first under the law. Usually, the police and courts do not take action against the BJP government and BJP leaders.
CPI(M) leaders Brinda Karat and K. M. Tewari had filed the complaint seeking a direction to the Delhi Police to file the FIR against Thakur and Verma.
Ms Karat told the court in her complaint that Thakur and Verma had incited people, as a result of which three incidents of firing took place at two different protest sites in Delhi.
Ms Karat said she approached the court when the Police Commissioner and the head of Parliament Street police station did not respond to her written complaints.
Ms Karat has alleged that Thakur on January 27 incited the crowd to raise an incendiary slogan – “shoot the traitors” – amid the protests against the CAA. She alleged Verma on January 28 also made incendiary comments against anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh.
Recently, an international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also released a report under the title: “Shoot the Traitors: Discrimination Against Muslims under India’s New Citizenship Policy.”
The report states that after the hateful speeches of BJP leaders, at least 52 people were killed in the three days of communal violence that broke out in India’s capital New Delhi.
The HRW report further explains that BJP leaders – who mostly act as mobsters – derided the protesters or more dangerously called them anti-national and pro-Pakistan. Addressing a mob of BJP goons, a minister in PM Modi’s government described the protesters as “Pakistani hooligans,” while others led a chant to “shoot the traitors,” inciting violence.
The violence in Delhi, according to the report, began soon after local BJP politician Kapil Mishra, who had earlier led a large demonstration calling to “shoot” the protesters, posted a video in which he gave an ultimatum to the police, threatening to take the matter into his own hands if the police did not clear the roads of protesters in three days.
Over 200 were injured, properties destroyed, and communities displaced in targeted attacks by Hindu mobs. While a policeman and some Hindus were also killed, the majority of victims were Muslim, the report describes.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
