Plea in HC seeking removal of Zafarul-Islam Khan as Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman

A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking to remove Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Zafarul-Islam Khan against whom an FIR has been lodged for his alleged seditious and hateful acts.

The PIL, which is likely to come up for hearing on May 11, said that on April 28, Khan published a post having seditious and hateful comments through his official page on the social media.

The plea, filed by retired bank official Subhash Chandra, said that on May 2, based on a complaint, the Delhi Police Special Cell has lodged an FIR against Khan under Sections 124A and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the alleged offences of sedition and promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language.

Despite registration of FIR, the respondent no.4 (Khan) declared on May 3, that he still stands by his aforesaid incendiary comments. He said that it was 'erroneously' reported by sections of the media that he had deleted his tweet containing the crude remarks.... He said that he stands by his words and convictions, the plea, filed through advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, said.

The petition alleged that it was evident from the public post on his Facebook account that it was provocative, deliberate and seditious, intended to cause disharmony and create a rift in the society.

By making such a hateful statement, the respondent no.4, who is holding such a responsible post, has endangered the unity and integrity of the country, tried to tarnish the secular image of India and spread hatred among two communities. The statement of khan is factually incorrect, derogatory and anti-national, it claimed.

The plea sought direction to the Delhi Minorities Commission, Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor to forthwith remove Khan from the post of Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission for his alleged seditious and hateful acts.

Earlier, another plea was filed in the high court seeking lodging of an FIR against Khan for his alleged inflammatory and threatening statements against the Hindu community. The plea is also listed for hearing on May 11.

The petition by Delhi resident Manoranjan Kumar has claimed that the commission's chairman has posted statements on his Facebook account in which he allegedly referred to the Hindu community as 'Hindutva bigots'.