The Supreme Court on Friday quashed a plea seeking directions to the government to initiate action against social activist Anna Hazare and his associates Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly showing disrespect and dishonouring the national flag during the Lokpal stir.
Dismissing the petition of Chennai-based LK Venkat, the court said, “You want publicity. There is no insult of the flag.”
The court also threatened to slap a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner, if he insisted on seeking action against the trio.
On January 6, the Delhi Police had told a trial court that “no disrespect to the dignity and honour of the national flag was shown or committed” by Anna Hazare and his team during their anti-corruption protest last year.
Submitting its status report before metropolitan magistrate Anil Kumar, the police said, “There may be instances of inadvertent and unintentional disrespect towards the flag but certainly, deliberate and intentional disrespect towards the Tricolour by the alleged persons has not been not established from the content of the complaint.”
The police’s report came in response to a complaint filed by advocate Ravinder Kumar accusing Hazare and his team of insulting the Tricolour during the anti-graft protest. The complaint sought registration of an FIR against Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and six others for allegedly disrespecting the Tricolour.
