Plea in Delhi HC seeks removal of Minorities Commission Chairman over 'seditious' remarks

A petition was moved in Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking immediate removal of Zafarul-Islam Khan from the post of Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman over his alleged seditious and hateful statement on social media.

Public interest litigation (PIL), 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 PIL said.

The petition said that by making such hateful statements, he 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 registration of FIR, Zafarul-Islam Khan declared on May 3 that he still stands by his aforesaid incendiary 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.

The plea sought a direction to Delhi government, LG and Delhi Minority Commission to remove Khan from his post for making the seditious and derogatory statement and also abused the position of chairperson in such a manner that his continuance in office is detrimental to the interests of the minorities as well as to the public interest.

( With inputs from ANI )