Delhi violence: HC gives Centre 4 weeks to reply on FIR over hate speech

The Delhi High Court Thursday allowed the Centre's impleadment in the PIL seeking lodging of FIRs and arrests in the northeast Delhi communal violence over the amended citizenship law.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar granted four weeks to the Centre and the police to file their replies to the PIL seeking lodging of FIRs against alleged hate speeches by three BJP leaders.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that as the Centre is responsible for maintaining law and order in Delhi, it be made a party in the matter, which was allowed by the court.

At the outset, Mehta told the bench that 48 FIRs have been lodged in relation to the violence and there be no judicial intervention till normalcy is restored in the national capital. The FIRs lodged so far relate to arson, looting and deaths.

The death toll in the violence reached 34 on Thursday with around 200 people injured.