The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Wednesday said that "no cognizable offence is made out" against BJP lawmakers Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma for their alleged inflammatory remarks.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat had filed a complaint against the leaders on charges of outraging religious feelings, intending to provoke breach of trust and criminal intimidation.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja had, earlier this month, directed the police to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) in the complaint. In the report filed on Wednesday, the police stated, "On the basis of allegations levelled in the complaint, no cognizable offence has been found to be committed." It said that the subsequent violence in the national capital have "no connection to the speeches mentioned in the complaint".
They further sought more time to file a final ATR in the matter. "Situation in Delhi is such that police is busy and hence we want more time." The court heard the arguments from both sides and slated the matter to March 2 for pronouncement of order. During the course of proceedings, counsel representing Karat, contended that the statements had "springboard effect". "We filed the complaint before the police commissioner but no action has been taken so far. Had it been taken on time, subsequent incident would not have happened," advocate Tara Narula said.
The application was filed under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure which empowers a magistrate to direct the police to conduct investigation into any matter. An inflammatory slogan "desh ke gaddaron ko goli maaro s*** ko" was chanted at a public rally addressed by Thakur on January 27 in Delhi's Rithala area. Thakur had allegedly egged on his audience to respond to the slogan.
Verma was reported as saying that mosques and graveyards had come up in over 500 government properties in the national capital, including hospitals and schools. He said that the land where these "illegal structures" have come up belong to the Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Corporations of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board and many other government agencies. Thakur and Verma were then barred from campaigning by the Election Commission for 72 hours and 96 hours respectively in the run-up to the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls.
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