Delhi High Court on Monday disposed of a petition seeking removal of Delhi Commission of Minorities chairman Zafar-ul Islam Khan over his alleged 'seditious and hateful' statement on social media.
Advocate Anupam Srivastava, appearing for the Delhi government, told the court that the Lieutenant Governor had written a letter to the Chief Minister on April 30 for initiating action against Khan. Srivastava said the L-G had also issued the show-cause notice to Khan on May 8.
A bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Justice Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal asked the authorities concerned to decide the matter in a reasonable time and thereafter disposed of the plea seeking immediate removal of Khan from the post.
The petition, filed by Supreme Court lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, said that Khan published an "extremely derogatory, seditious and hateful public post" on his official page on a social media platform on April 28.
"It is quite axiomatic from the aforesaid public post of Zafarul-Islam Khan, Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission that it was provocative, deliberate and seditious, intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in the society," the plea said.
It said that by making such hateful statements, Khan has endangered the unity and integrity of the country, tried to tarnish the secular image of India, and spread hatred among two communities.
The statement is also factually incorrect, derogatory, and anti-national, it said.
The plea said that based on a complaint, the Delhi Police Special Cell filed an FIR against him on May 2 under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that lays down the punishment for sedition and Section 153A that call for punishment for promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language.
Despite the registration of FIR, Khan declared on May 3 that he still stands by his comments, the plea said.
It said that Khan claimed his remarks were "erroneously" reported by sections of the media that he had deleted his tweet containing the crude remarks. He said that he stands by his words and convictions, the plea said.
( With inputs from ANI )