On Friday, the SC expressed its displeasure at the increasing tendency of people to rush to court seeking directions for registering criminal cases against all and sundry. The apex court refused to pass directions on a PIL seeking registration of a criminal case under MCOCA against MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his party’s hate campaign and violence against north Indians in Maharashtra. “How can such a petition be filed? We are not a police station,” said a Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathashivam, dismissing the petition filed by an NGO, Yuva Shakti.The counsel for the petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Singh, submitted that the violence triggered by the MNS activists against north Indians violated the victims’ Fundamental Rights to settle anywhere in the country and seek employment. However, unimpressed by the argument, the Bench remarked that the petitioner was not a victim. “You are not an aggrieved party. Only an aggrieved party can file a petition for initiation of a criminal procedure,” the Bench said.The PIL had also sought a direction to the EC to derecognise MNS as a political party. The advocate submitted that how can the apex court be silent when a political party was encouraging and spearheading violence against citizens.
