Important cases heard by the Delhi High Court on Thursday, December 7:
* HC restrained the forest department from holding a ‘Walk with Wildlife’ event inside the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in the southern Ridge here later this month, saying it could endanger the lives of the participants and wild animals inside the jungle in the absence of adequate arrangements for their safety and security.
* HC granted Congress MP Shashi Tharoor the final opportunity to file submissions in a plea in which he has challenged the defamation proceedings against him launched on a complaint by a BJP leader over his alleged “scorpion on Shivling” remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
* Open spaces and green cover provide the much-needed breathing zones for people when they are grappling with the hazardous scenario of ever-increasing pollution and the move to lock the gates of a public park is “totally unacceptable”, the HC has said while directing the city’s civic body to take over two parks next to the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.
* HC has refused to quash an FIR registered against a couple for buying a kidnapped 3-year-old girl because they could not bear children of their own following a compromise between the feuding parties, saying it cannot condone “commodification of children”.
* HC has directed the Delhi government to give data on sexual assault cases of minors and adults, including the numbers and stage of trial.
