Contempt Petition Dismissed against Delhi Police in the Hate Speech Case
The Supreme Court on Thursday disposed of a contempt petition matter filed by activist Tushar Gandhi through Advocate Shadan Farasat against the Delhi Police for its alleged inaction in a hate speech case during a Hindu Yuva Vahini event in 2021. The contempt petition was based on the fact that there has been non-compliance with the Supreme Court guidelines in Tehseen S Poonawalla v. Union of India [(2018) 9 SCC 501] which stipulates that there must be a timely filing of FIR and chargesheet in such cases.
The Delhi Police represented by the Additional Solicitor General of India, KM Nataraj mentioned that on April 4, the charge sheet had already been filed before the Court of the Metropolitan Magistrate , Saket under Section 173 of the CrPC. Therefore, according to the Supreme Court it would not be right in the interest of justice to exercise the contempt petition and it maintained that the Ld. Judicial Magistrate must proceed according to the provisions of CrPC.
It is imperative to mention that the Uttarakhand Police was also under the purview of the contempt jurisdiction, but since it has complied to the directions given in the Tehseen S Poonawalla vs Union of India and Others [(2018) 9 SCC 501] like filing multiple FIRs in Uttarakhand against people who had been involved in the Hindu Yuva Vahini event and the subsequent hate speeches, it has been discharged from these current proceedings.
