Plea in Delhi HC flags ‘imminent communal violence’ ahead of Eid in Uttam Nagar

New Delhi: A civil rights group on Wednesday approached Delhi High Court to prevent "imminent communal violence" on Eid in Uttam Nagar, where a 26-year-old man was killed in a clash on Holi.Senior advocate Nitya Ramkrishnan mentioned the plea for urgent listing on Wednesday itself before a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, saying there is fear of "serious violence" on Eid. The plea for urgent hearing by Association for Protection of Civil Rights was allowed by the bench, but the petition did not come up during the day and is likely to be heard on Thursday. It sought high court's intervention to "prevent communal violence and frenzy being created in Uttamnagar, Dwarka, Delhi, affecting the fraternity. The petitioner is seeking urgent directions to the respondent authorities to discharge their statutory and constitutional obligations in preventing imminent communal violence, hate speech and targeted discrimination against a particular community."The organisation moved court in the backdrop of an incident on Holi when a man was allegedly beaten to death following a neighbourhood altercation between two families belonging to different religious communities in Uttam Nagar.The plea says many hate speeches were delivered since then and are specifically targeting the festival of Eid, which is to be celebrated on 20 or 21 March 2026, and explicitly advocating that Muslims in Uttam Nagar will be prevented from celebrating the Eid festival.It is further submitted that such hate speech and incitement have not remained confined to rhetoric but have manifested in acts of violence, vandalism, arson, mob assaults and forced economic shutdowns. Several Muslim-owned shops in the locality have remained closed due to fear of violence, and reports indicate that families have been compelled to temporarily leave their homes due to apprehension of targeted violence.