2019 Jamia police atrocities: SC asks Delhi HC to ensure early disposal on pleas for FIRs

The SC bench said a request should be made before the High Court for early hearing

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Delhi High Court to decide the plea for filing the FIRs in cases relating to the allegations of police atrocities in Jamia Millia Islamia during the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath, however, declined a request by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves to specify the time limit, saying the matter would be decided considering the length of time for which it has been pending.

The counsel said so far no FIR in the matter was lodged and the bench which heard the matter at length released it from the board.

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"About three years have gone by but not a single FIR has been lodged. We filed the plea here but we were asked to approach the High Court," he said.

The bench, however, said a request should be made before the High Court for early hearing.

As the counsel said he pursued the matter before the High Court for two years, the bench said he could have filed an application before the magistrate and got the FIR lodged.

The counsel, for his part, insisted that the FIR must be lodged the moment a cognisable offence is disclosed as per the Lalita Kumari judgement. The students should not be expected to pursue the job of prosecution, he said.

The bench declined the request, saying that it was not convinced to invoke its jurisdiction to order lodging of the FIR. The court, however, asked the High Court to ensure early disposal of the matter.