Just hours after the central government summarily transferred Justice S Muralidhar to the Punjab High Court, A Delhi High Court Bench comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Hari Shankar adjourned the matter till 13 April. This despite lawyer Colin Gonsalves pleading for an order directing police to register FIRs against politicians who made hate speeches.
On Wednesday, on his last day in the Delhi High Court, Justice Muralidhar had directed the Delhi Police to inform the court within a day on the filing of FIRs of politicians guilty of making hate speeches. They included BJP leader Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma, Abhay Verma and Kapil Mishra.
On Thursday, setting all arguments made by Gonsalves aside, the Delhi High Court gave four weeks of time to the Centre to file a counter affidavit in the present matter. Gonsalves, according to Livelaw website, said that 10-12 people were dying every day adding that a closer date would be appreciated.
Making a desperate plea, Gonsalves had said, “Please don’t wait even for a day. Kindly order for registration of FIR. The question of arrest can be decided tomorrow.”
Justice Muralidhar on Wednesday had made scathing observations against the Delhi Police and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the deteriorating law and order in Delhi where 25 people have been killed in the ongoing riots.
Justice Muralidhar was aghast to learn that the Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime branch) Rajesh Deo, who was present inside the courtroom, had not watched the video of BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s provocative speech. He had also expressed his surprise on the reluctance in the filing of FIRs against BJP leaders who made provocative speeches ahead of the communal riots.
When Deo said that he had watched two videos but had not ‘watched Kapil Mishra’s video,’ Justice Muralidhar had said, “This is really concerning. There are so many TVs in your office, how can a police officer say that he hasn’t watched the videos. I’m really appalled by the state of affairs of Delhi Police.”
Justice Muralidhar had said that the bench comprising him and Justice Talwant Singh ‘could not ‘let another 1984 scenario happen in this city; not under the watch if this court.’