NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Tuesday said it would hear on Wednesday a plea seeking registration of an FIR and arrest of persons involved in the ongoing violence in north-east Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The plea was mentioned before a bench of Justices G S Sistani and A J Bhambhani for hearing on Tuesday itself.
The court said however that it would be heard on Wednesday. The petition filed by human rights activist Harsh Mander and activist Farah Naqvi sought setting up of an SIT to inquire into the incident and compensation for those killed and injured in the violence.
Advocate Sneha Mukherjee, while mentioning the plea, said they are seeking that action be taken against certain individuals who are inciting people and making hate speeches due to which violence has erupted in various areas of north-east Delhi.
It has also sought directions to the Centre for the deployment of the Army to maintain law and order in the national capital and areas where the “communal attack on people are most ferocious”.
Demand for SIT
The petition sought setting up of an SIT to inquire into the incident and compensation for those killed and injured in the violence
Media bodies express concern over attacks
Two media bodies in the national capital on Tuesday expressed concern over the attack on several journalists who were covering violence in north-east Delhi since Sunday and urged the police and the home ministry to “ensure that media is not brought under physical assault.”
In a joint statement, Press Club of India (PCI) and Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) expressed “serious concern that journalists on duty have come under attack while covering the communal violence rocking northeast Delhi since last Sunday”.
“Several of them have been hospitalised. They have been punched and attacked by communal mobs, and police were either absent or have not come to help. Shockingly, mobs were checking religious credentials of journalists,” the journalists’ bodies said.
The journalists’ associations said that reporters from television media seems to have been specifically targeted during the attacks.