Court seeks police reply on Geelani, Roy issue

A Delhi court on Wednesday directed Delhi Police to file reply on a petition seeking prosecution of writer Arundhati Roy and separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for making anti-national hate speeches during a seminar in the Capital last month.

A Delhi court on Wednesday directed Delhi Police to file reply on a petition seeking prosecution of writer Arundhati Roy and separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for making anti-national hate speeches during a seminar in the Capital last month.

HT Image

Metropolitan magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha said, “The station house officer (SHO) of the police station concerned is directed to file a status report on November 16.”

Vikas Padora, counsel for complainant, Sushil Pandit contended in court that the accused should be prosecuted for sedition, as they had openly challenged the integrity and the authority of the government of India.

The complaint, filed under section 156(3) of CrPC, seeks either registration of an FIR or a direction to the police to file a report after probing their alleged anti-India statements at a seminar.

Besides Geelani and Roy, the complaint also seeks prosecution of five others, including Delhi University professor SAR Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case, and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a professor of Jammu and Kashmir University.

Padora said, “The government has failed to take any action against the perpetrators of anti-India seminars. These hate speeches clearly attract prosecution, but nobody is doing anything.”

The complainant in the petition said that being a citizen of India, he is duly empowered by the constitution to seek registration of an FIR against the accused persons for various offences against the nation.

Hurriyat leader Geelani had shared the dais with Roy and pro-Maoist leader Vara Vara Rao among others during the convention, ‘Azadi-The Only Way’.