The Supreme Court on Thursday closed contempt proceedings against Delhi police noting that a charge sheet was filed in the 2021 hate speech event involving Sudarshan TV editor Suresh Chavhanke by Delhi police.
The contempt petition was filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The development comes 11 months after the police registered a criminal case on May 4, 2022, into the incident.
The case relates to an event organised in Delhi by the Hindu Yuva Vahini under the leadership of Suresh Chavhanke, the editor of ‘Sudarshan News’, in December 2021.
The petition claimed that the police were duty-bound to register a case and file a charge sheet pursuant to a 2018 judgment of the top court in the Tehseen Poonawala case where orders were issued to police and states/UTs to take preventive, as well as, remedial steps to curb hate crimes.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) KM Nataraj appearing for Delhi police informed a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justice JB Pardiwala that the charge sheet was filed in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate in a Saket court on April 4, after the investigation was concluded by the police.
As nothing further survived in continuing the contempt petition, the Court closed the proceedings and asked the magistrate court to proceed with the case under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for Gandhi, argued that in February, the Court had directed a copy of the charge sheet to be produced. He requested a copy of the charge sheet in order to know the contents of the probe conducted by the police. However, the bench was not inclined to accept the suggestion. Moreover, Gandhi was not a complainant in the case and had filed the contempt petition in public interest.
The top Court had in the past nudged the Delhi police to take the case to its logical conclusion as it questioned the 5-month delay to register a first information report (FIR) and the tardy probe in the matter.
In February, the Delhi police informed the Court that the investigation was substantially over and the filing of the charge sheet was held up for want of a forensic report on the voice sample of Chavhanke.
On an earlier occasion, the Delhi police denied any “anti-Muslim” statement made at the event. The event was organised by Hindu Yuva Vahini where an oath was administered to realize the goal of a Hindu Rashtra.