Prophet remarks row: Supreme Court protects Nupur Sharma from coercive action

The Supreme Court Tuesday granted interim protection from coercive action to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in connection with the FIRscomplaints filed against her in several states over her remarks on the Prophet made during a TV debate show It also protected her from coercive action in the FIRscomplaints which may be registered or entertained in the future about the May 26 telecastA bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala which had earlier refused to club the FIRs lodged against Sharma after coming down heavily on her for her controversial comments on the Prophet took note of the alleged threats to life extended to her after its July 1 orderObserving that it never wanted Sharma to visit every court for relief the bench issued notices to the Centre and several states including Delhi West Bengal and Maharashtra on her plea urging protection from arrest as well as the revival of her withdrawn petition seeking clubbing of FIRs lodged in several statesIn the meanwhile as an interim measure it is directed that no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner pursuant to the impugned FIRscomplaints or such FIRscomplaints which may be registeredentertained in future pertaining to the telecast dated May 26 2022 the bench saidThe top court sought responses of the Centre and the concerned states by August 10 the next date of hearingWhile taking note of the submissions made by senior advocate Maninder Singh who appeared for Sharma and referred to the threats to her life the bench said its concern is how to ensure that the petitioner will avail of the alternative remedy as permitted by the court on July 1In the light of these subsequent events some of which have been noticed above the concern of this court is how to ensure that the petitioner is able to avail the alternative remedy as permitted by this court in an order dated July 1 the bench observedIn order to explore such modality let notice be issued to the respondents in miscellaneous application for August 10 it saidWhen Singh said that notice be issued on the main petition also the bench said that copies of the main writ petition be also forwarded along with the notice for ready reference of the respondents Centre and concerned statesThe bench permitted the petitioner to file an additional affidavit giving specific details of the threats extended to her after filing the applicationDuring the arguments Singh said that since the July 1 order of the top court Sharma has been extended threats to life and it has come on record that a person from Pakistan has travelled to India to attack herHe said that recently in Patna some alleged extremists arrested who are said to have the petitioner as their targetThe bench asked Singh whether these incidents which he is referring to happened after July 1 orderThe senior counsel replied in the affirmativeSingh said that the apex court wanted Sharma to go to different courts for relief but it has become increasingly difficult for her to visit the courts due to increasing threatsWe must correct the facts Perhaps we were not able to convey correctly but we never wanted you to go to every court for relief the bench saidSingh submitted What has happened has already happened There is continuing threat to her life These threats are genuine and real After the July 1 order the West Bengal Police registered four fresh FIRs This is a question of Article 21The bench said what it understand correctly from Singhs submission is that the petitioner wants to go to any one court like the Delhi High CourtWe never wanted you or your family to be put in any kind of danger the bench saidSingh said in these circumstances they are seeking clubbing of the FIRs as all of them are based on the same cause of actionThe court can club all the other FIRs to the first FIR which was lodged in Delhi as they arise out of the same video Stay off the investigation in other FIRs and protection be granted from any coercive action If any future FIRs or complaints are lodged arising out of the same cause of action those may also be stayed Singh saidThe bench said Our concern is that petitioner is not deprived of availing the legal remedy We will pass orders to that effectOn July 1 the same bench of the top court severely criticised Sharma for her controversial comments against the Prophet saying her loose tongue has set the entire country on fire and that she is singlehandedly responsible for what is happening in the countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever