The Supreme Court last week dismissed a plea seeking review of its earlier order clearing former Union minister Anurag Thakur and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Parvesh Verma in a complaint alleging that they delivered hate speeches targeting those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Delhi in 2020. Pleas against Thakur, VermaIn their petition, Karat and Tiwari said that on January 27, 2020, Thakur made hate speech at a rally. They also alleged that a day later, Verma made inflammatory hate speeches while campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). When the police refused to register an FIR, they moved the Rouse Avenue court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (I). The Supreme Court, however, disagreed with the reasoning of the lower court and the Delhi High Court, and said the requirement of prior sanction arises only at the stage of the magistrate taking cognisance, not before.