Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde on Monday said courts were not “equipped” to handle palpable public “pressure” being created to somehow step in and even prevent communal violence from happening in Delhi.

Courts came into the picture only after an incident happened, the CJI said.

“We are not saying people should die. But this kind of pressure we are not equipped to handle. We cannot stop things from happening. We cannot give preventive reliefs. We feel a kind of pressure on us... We cannot handle that. It is as if the court is responsible,” the CJI said.

The oral observations came when senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for riot victims and families, made a mentioning before the CJI to urgently intervene and pass directions to prevent communal violence from spreading. He said there were five or six prominent people who were instigating violence.

“At least 10 to 11 people are dying everyday. Last night, five or seven people died. Delhi is under a cloud of fear,” Mr. Gonsalves submitted. He said the court should either take up the case in the afternoon or latest by Tuesday (March 3).

He said despite the deaths of people, a Delhi High Court Bench led by Chief Justice D.N. Patel had “very disappointingly” adjourned the next hearing in the case by six weeks. Earlier, the same High Court had adjourned a case for fair inquiry into the Jamia violence by several weeks, he submitted.

Such long adjournments allowed these human rights cases to stagnate and gave the government elbow room to wriggle out of taking responsibility.

But Chief Justice Bobde said courts could not handle such pressure.

“There are many things Your Lordships cannot handle, but we are here to help you... People are dying every day,” he responded to the CJI.

“We will hear, but you have to understand we cannot prevent such things from happening. Courts come into the scene after the incident has happened... We do wish peace, but we have limitations. We know that. We read media reports... it is as if we are somehow responsible [for the occurrence of the violence],” Chief Justice Bobde said.

The Bench agreed to hear the case on March 4.

“Can it be on Tuesday?” Mr. Gonsalves pleaded, but the court finalised the hearing for March 4.

The petition has sought the immediate filing of FIRs against BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur, Pravesh Verma and others who indulged in hate speech, rioting, murder and arson.

It has sought the setting up of a Special Investigation Team with officers from outside Delhi to probe the February riots. An inquiry committee headed by a retired judge should probe the police persons involved and exemplary compensation to be granted to victims.

It has also sought the full list of persons detained by police and paramilitary to be made public and preservation of CCTV footage of riot-affected areas. It said post-mortem reports should be immediately released to the families of victims.