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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta raised strong objection to allegations before Delhi High Court on Monday, against Home Minister Amit Shah in the matter concerning the violence that took place in Jamia Milia Islamia University in December last year.
The SG Tushar Mehta submitted that the allegations made against the Home Minister in the rejoinder amount to irresponsible pleadings by the Petitioner as they are not backed by substantive evidence while addressing the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan.
The SG Mehta pointed out that in the rejoinder filed by one of the Petitioners, Nabila Hasan, it was stated that the instructions to Delhi Police to "mercilessly beat" the students and to "break their bones" was from the Home Minister himself.
To this, he asked, "What is your source of information? What is the evidence? You cannot malign a constitutional authority like this".
He further pointed out that the petitioner had alleged the Delhi Police had indulged in the destruction of private property and behaved like "common criminals".
'You cannot malign a constitutional functionary like this', SG Tushar Mehta submitted.
While contending that the said allegations expose the real intention of the Petitioner behind moving the current petition, he added that as per the pleadings, it was the perception of the common people that the lawlessness was at the behest of the Home Minister. He said:
"Who told this girl what the common people felt?", SG Mehta questioned as he argued that allegations without any basis could not be allowed to be made in pleadings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
"You can say these things in a public rally but not before a constitutional court in pleadings on affidavit", said Tushar Mehta.
He expressed that such allegations could be made in pleadings, however in accordance with the law, and by disclosing the source of information.
Further, SG Mehta prayed that the objectionable portion be deleted, by saying "Irresponsible pleading is becoming the order of the day".
The Division Bench then questions petitioner's counsel, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, as to why such allegations had been without any basis.
The Court then asked Senior Advocate Gonsalves to consider deleting the objectionable passages.
After briefly hearing other counsel in the batch of petitions, the Court proceeded to adjourn hearing in the matter to allow all parties to complete their pleadings.
The Petitioners are directed to submit a consolidated list of issues to assist the court during the proceedings. The said list is supposed to be circulated among the Petitioners and must be served to the other party before the next date of hearing.
The matter will be heard next on July 13.
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