The Supreme Court on Monday directed Delhi police to place before it the chargesheet relating to alleged hate speech at a Delhi event held in December 2021, over which it had repeatedly rapped the force earlier for its inaction and tardiness.
The bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala put off the matter till April 6 after additional solicitor-general K.M. Natraj requested a short adjournment.
Natraj had said the probe was at an “advanced stage” but voice sample reports from the forensic laboratory were awaited.
A video purportedly of the “Hindu Vahini” event showed men and women in saffron robes taking a vow to “fight, die and, if necessary, kill for” a Hindu Rashtra.
But on April 14 last year, the Delhi police, who report to the Union home ministry, filed an affidavit saying they had “closed” all the three complaints.
The event featured no hate speeches or genocide calls, the police affidavit said. Chided by the top court, the police later filed an FIR.
On January 13 this year, the court again pulled up the police, expressing surprise that the FIR had been registered five months after the speech and no chargesheet had been filed a year after the event.
“The incident takes places on the 19th of December, 2021. The FIR is registered five months later on May 4, 2022? Why do you require five months to register an FIR?” the court had asked Natraj, who was appearing for the Centre.
A visibly annoyed Justice Chandrachud had asked: “What steps have you taken? How many arrests have been made? Who is the IO (investigating officer)?”
The bench is dealing with a contempt application moved last year by Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi against Delhi police commissioner Rakesh Asthana (now retired) for failing to act against the alleged hate speeches made at the event.
Gandhi has cited multiple apex court directives and guidelines against hate-mongering to accuse the police of contempt.