Supreme Court seeks police, govt response on plea for FIR against Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma in hate speech case

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the police and government in Delhi on a plea seeking registration of a criminal case against BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma for alleged hate speech.

A division bench comprising Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna verbally remarked that the reasoning of lower courts that sanction under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code was required from the union government might not be correct.

With regard to the remark "desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaro (shoot the traitors)" allegedly made by union minister Thakur, Justice Joseph orally remarked: "Here, 'goli maaro' was certainly not in terms of a medicine prescription."


The development took place during the hearing of an appeal against a June 2022 Delhi High Court judgement which turned down the plea filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders Brinda Karat and KM Tiwari challenging a trial court decision that refused to order registration of FIRs against the two BJP leaders.

The CPM leaders had sought filing of a case over speeches made by the two leaders during the Delhi assembly elections in 2020, when protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act were ongoing in the national capital.

A police status report had found that no cognisable offence had been made out.