Top Court To Hear Pleas Against BJP Leaders For Hate Speech On Wednesday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear cases against BJP leaders accused of hate speeches, filed by victims of last week's Delhi violence in which 46 have been killed. The case will be taken up on Wednesday.

The Delhi High Court had last week given the police four weeks to give an update on action against the leaders, accused of inciting violence over the controversial citizenship law protest.

Senior activist Harsh Mander said the case, filed by five victims, had been adjourned for a month by the High Court.

"We went to the High Court. A notice was issued. It was carried to Thursday. The judge was transferred. The High Court Chief Justice adjourned the case for six weeks," said Mr Mander.

"It is urgent. People are killed at the rate of 10 per day," he added.

Chief Justice SA Bobde, asking whether any reason had been given by the High Court for the four-week gap, asked: "In the absence of an order, what can we do?"

He added: "We wish peace but there are limitations to our power. There is some expectation, which we can't do. We will take it up on Wednesday. Let us see what we can do."

On Wednesday, a High Court bench headed by S Muralidhar had told the Delhi Police that there should be no delay in registering FIRs over the hate speeches, urging the cops to "seriously consider consequences" of not doing so.

The judge was transferred and the case was taken up on Thursday by Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Harishankar, who, on a Delhi Police request for more time, granted the centre four weeks.

Mr Mander said it was "unfortunate" that such an important petition was being delayed.

"We are not equipped," said the Chief Justice, pointing out that the High Court was seized of the situation.

"We are not equipped to prevent these things from happening. We can only deal with the situation after that. This is a kind of pressure on us. We can't handle so much pressure," said Chief Justice Bobde.

The number of deaths has risen to 46 after rioting in various parts of northeast Delhi last week, in which mobs armed with iron rods, sticks and guns roamed the streets and targeted people, shops, cars and homes.

(Inputs from ndtv.com)