Plea in Mumbai High Court seeks cases against 3 MLAs for ‘hate speeches’
Court asked for registration of FIRs against BJP MLAs
Mumbai: A petition has been filed in Mumbai High Court, seeking registration of FIRs against Maharashtra BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh and independent MLA from Mira Bhayander, Geeta Jain, who is supporting the BJP, for alleged hate speeches following the violence in Mira Road, a suburb north of Mumbai, in January.
According to Kashmir Media Service, five people, including two victims of the violence, approached the High Court stating they were compelled to approach it since no FIR had been registered against the alleged hate speeches.
The petition is likely to be heard on March 27.
The plea, filed by Aftab Siddique, Ashfak Ali Akbarali Shaikh, Asgar Ali Shakoor Raeen, Ismail Khan and Sajjad Khatib, who hail from Thane and Mumbai, stated that violence erupted in a minority locality in Mira Road on January 21.
While it continued, Rane, Jain and Singh visited parts of Mira Road between January and February and openly threatened the minority community through their speeches and also gave interviews to the media during that duration, the plea alleged.
The petition said that Naya Nagar police station in Mira-Bhayandar police commissionerate, and Shivaji Nagar and Ghatkopar police stations in Mumbai police commissionerate be directed to register the FIR against the three leaders for allegedly giving hate speeches within their jurisdiction between January and February.
The plea stated that multiple major and minor clashes took place after the alleged hate speeches and cited instances when some people from minority groups were assaulted.
It claimed that no FIRs were registered by police neither for the hate speeches nor in cases where people from the minority group were attacked. In cases where FIRs were registered for attacks or vandalism against minority group members, no arrests were made by police, the plea said.
The people, according to the plea, were believed to have approached the police and requested the registration of FIRs against the MLAs. But, since no action had been taken, the petitioners approached the High Court, it said.
The petitioners pointed out that the police failed to take action of registering the FIRs against such hate speeches in compliance with the mandate of the Supreme Court.
It alleged that the police failed to register an FIR on the incidents of hate speech despite the same being reported widely in the media, the presence of information in the public domain and notice to the police about the spread of hate speech and commission of offences.
