The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition moved by a Delhi woman, who is being prosecuted for allegedly posting videos containing derogatory statements against Sikhism and Sikh gurus. A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana reproached Sakshi Bhardwaj for trying to "involve the whole world" in her petition and asked her to face the investigation.
"What is this? You involve the UN, your family and who is not in your petition...as if the entire world is responsible. We can't interdict the investigations against you," the bench told her lawyer.
The top court further said that there is no question of issuing any directive on a fair trial when she is still being investigated for the charges of inciting religious sentiments and hate speech. "You are not being tried right now. Investigations against you are going on and they must be taken to a logical conclusion," added the bench.
Bhardwaj's lawyer had contended that she was being targeted and that the probe against her was prejudiced. He added that there were FIRs against her lodged in Jammu and Kashmir as well but she was not being given copies of those FIRs.
On his part, the counsel for the Delhi Police informed the bench that the charge sheet was yet to be filed and hence the petition is completely misconceived. The bench then dismissed Bhardwaj's petition and asked her to cooperate with the investigators.
Some of the videos posted allegedly by Bhardwaj had created an outrage as they contained blasphemous statements against Sikh gurus and the community.
On a suit moved by In¬dian Rail¬way offi¬cial G S Walia, a Delhi court had in November 2017 directed Google to remove all such con¬tent from YouTube within a week. Subsequently, Delhi Police had registered and FIR against Bhardwaj and started its investigation.
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