The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the police to take "conscious decision" with respect to lodging of FIRs against alleged hate speeches by three BJP leaders in connection with the CAA violence and convey by Thursday.
The three BJP leaders are -- Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma.
A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Talwant Singh took on record the assurance by special commissioner Praveer Ranjan that he will sit with the police commissioner today and view all video clips and take a conscious decision on lodging of FIRS.
Speeches by Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma are said to have triggered communal riots in the national capital that have killed 24 people so far.
Advertisement
Here’s what the three BJP leaders said on anti-CAA protests in the national capital:
Kapil Mishra
Hours before communal riots broke out in Delhi, BJP leader Kapil Mishra gave "ultimatum" to the police to remove anti-CAA protests blocking roads in northeast Delhi.
"They want to cut off 35 lakh people by blocking the roads. Is this the way to protest against anything? We will not allow the area to be turned into Shaheen Bagh," Mishra said. He had asked people to gather at Maujpur Chowk in support of the CAA in reply to the roadblock by those protesting against the new citizenship law.
Advertisement
But this isn’t the only provocative speech by Mishra. He is known for his hardline views against anti-CAA protests that he often expresses through his tweets.
In December last year, he took out a march in Delhi in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. A video of him from the march surfaced on social media in which he could be heard shouting the inflammatory slogan — “desh ke gaddaron ko”.
In the run up to Delhi assembly elections in January, Mishra posted a communal tweet. “Pakistan has entered Shaheen Bagh. Mini-Pakistans are being created in the city. The law of the land is not being followed in Shaheen Bagh, Chand Bagh and Indralok. Pakistani rioters are occupying Delhi roads,” Mishra wrote on Twitter.
In his most recent tweet, which was posted on Tuesday night (January 26), Mishra shared a video saying, "Jaffrabad has been vacated, there won't be another Shaheen Bagh,"
Anurag Thakur
During campaign for Delhi elections, Union Minister Anurag Thakur encouraged those at a BJP rally to say “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaron saalon ko (shoot the traitors of the nation)”.
After his remarks, the Election Commission banned him from campaigning for 72 hours.
Parvesh Verma
In the run-up to Delhi elections, BJP MP Parvesh Verma said that the protesters at Shaheen Bagh “will enter your homes and rape your daughters and sisters."
Advertisement
"Lakhs of people gather there (Shaheen Bagh). People of Delhi will have to think and take a decision. They'll enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, and kill them. There's time today, Modi ji and Amit Shah won't come to save you tomorrow..." he said.
"If the BJP forms government on February 11, not a single person will be found at (the protest site) Shaheen Bagh," he said.
Verma had also promised to demolish mosques that were built on government land in his constituency if the BJP came to power in Delhi.
