MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday quashed an FIR against MNS chief Raj Thackeray and also set aside a summon issued against him by a trial court on October 7 last year to face trial for making ‘anti-Bihari’ remarks at a rally in Mumbai.
“Admittedly on day of issuance of summon, there was no sanction from the government of India to prosecute petitioner. Thus, the magistrate has no locus to issue summon in absence of the sanction…There is also no direct or indirect evidence in the charge sheet filed by the police against Raj Thackeray, thus the FIR lodged against him goes,” Justice Suresh Kait said.
It further observed that the FIR was lodged under section 153A (promoting enmity between classes) and 153B (assertions prejudicial to national integration), besides many others which required prior sanction from the competent authority.
The court, however, said the complainant could take steps if new materials emerge and proceed with the complaint before the trial court by providing evidence in the matter.
The trial court order had come on a complaint by advocate Mithilesh Kumar Pandey who had referred to a rally in Mumbai addressed by Thackeray, in which he allegedly blamed Muslims from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand for the August 11, 2012 violence during protests against the Assam riots.
