Delhi HC dismisses plea against Muslim's force feeding

The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a PIL seeking de-recognition of the Shiv Sena and direction for disqualifying 11 of its MPs for allegedly forcing a Muslim staffer to eat during his Ramadan fast.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath dismissed the plea noting that steps have already been taken by the authorities in this regard.

"In view of the steps that already have been taken by the concerned authorities/departments, we are of the view that matter does not deserve intervention by this court," the bench said.

The court also took into note the submissions of Additional Solitior General (ASG) Sanjay Jain that the home ministry had taken note of the incident and two complaints have been filed with police but none has been filed by the victim.

The court said that two complaints have been received by the assistant commissioner of police, concerned about the alleged incident and appropriate action is being taken in accordance with the law.

"Moreover a statement has been made by the home minister terming the incident the incident regrettable and unfortunate and that the government should make constant effort for making religious harmony in the country," it said.

The court also held that initiation of proceedings by a third party under the garb of public interest litigation is "not at all warranted".

"We are of the opinion that initiation of proceedings by a third party under the garb of public interest litigation is not at all warranted," said the bench, adding that the petitioner miserably failed to furnish any particulars to establish his credentials to maintain the writ petition by way of public interest litigation.

The court's order came on a PIL filed by NGO Garib Nawaz Foundation that also sought immediate arrest of the MPs for provoking religious sentiments. The plea sought initiation of criminal case against the Shiv Sena MPs, including Sanjay Rout and Rajan Vichare, who represents the Thane Lok Sabha constituency, and asked for direction to the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman to disqualify 11 of the Sena lawmakers.

It has been alleged that on July 17, Vichare, irked over the poor quality of food, force-fed Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) employee Arshad Zubair, who was the catering supervisor at Maharashtra Sadan. The IRCTC was providing food for the Maharashtra Sadan.

The PIL had said that the action of the Shiv Sena MPs with the fasting Muslim supervisor was uncalled for and needed to be dealt with a strict action by party chief Udhav Thackeray.