Court cautions Save India Foundation over repeated pleas targeting mosques, dargahs
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Despite having been reprimanded and reminded against repeatedly submitting pleas, the Delhi High Court again expressed its strong displeasure against Save India Foundation, an NGO that has been repeatedly filing public interest litigations alleging encroachments by mosques and dargahs in the national capital, apart from urging the group’s counsel to restrain both himself and the organisation from commenting on pending matters on social media.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that it was fully aware of what was being said outside the courtroom, and it emphasised that it was the responsibility of the NGO’s counsel to sensitise his client as well as himself, while cautioning against the practice of giving interviews and commenting publicly on sub judice issues.
The Bench remarked that such conduct amounted to a very bad practice, as arguments ought to be confined strictly to judicial proceedings and not carried into public discourse in a manner capable of inflaming sentiment.
The Court further underscored that parties who are already before a judicial forum must place their submissions within the courtroom, and it appealed to them not to heighten passions in sensitive matters involving religious structures.
The observations echoed similar criticism made on January 14, when the Court had taken exception to the NGO’s alleged pattern of targeting only one category of religious structures, and had warned against misuse of its PIL jurisdiction.
On Wednesday, the Bench was also seized of a separate petition filed by Mohd Kamran, head of the Civilian Welfare Charitable Trust, who alleged that Save India Foundation and another organisation, Sewa Nyaya Utthan Foundation, were filing frivolous PILs to target religious places for political purposes and to fuel communal tensions.
The plea referred to an attempted demolition near Masjid Faiz Elahi at Turkman Gate by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which was reportedly undertaken pursuant to a High Court order directing action against encroachments, and it contended that the mosque’s managing committee and the Delhi Waqf Board had not been impleaded.
While declining immediate relief and advising Kamran to seek impleadment in the pending matters, the Court also heard another PIL by Save India Foundation challenging a 1980 notification declaring certain properties as waqf, and it warned the NGO against testing its patience before the petition was ultimately withdrawn.