Tanisha Rana
Published on: November 4, 2022 at 21:33 IST
The Supreme Court ordered on Friday that the Delhi Police take over the first information reports (FIRs) that had been filed in various States against Naveen Kumar Jindal, the expelled BJP spokesperson, in relation to his remarks about the Prophet Mohammad [Naveen Kumar Jindal vs. UOI & Ors.].
Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh’s bench ordered,
“All FIRs to be transferred to Delhi Police IFSO Unit. No precipitative action or further FIRs against accused for 8 weeks so he can pursue his appropriate remedy before the Delhi High Court.”
Naveen Jindal was represented by Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra, Advocates Shriansh Prakash, Pragati Srivastava, and Richa Srivastava, and the Central Government was represented by Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee.
Luthra asked for similar relief to that given in the Arnab Goswami case during today’s session.
Justice Shah replied by saying,
“That was in entirely different circumstances. We are not here to protect the accused.”
Jindal made the remarks at the same time that Nupur Sharma, a former BJP spokesperson, was involved in a similar controversy.
Sharma had petitioned the apex court, pleading for the transfer to Delhi of the FIRs that had been filed against her across the nation due to her remarks on the Prophet Muhammad.
The Court, however, had initially rejected the plea and harshly criticised the her.
The Bench had stated that Sharma should apologise to the entire country for fanning the fires across India single-handedly.
On August 10, she submitted a petition for the revival of her prior suit, and on August 11, the Supreme Court consolidated and forwarded all of the FIRs against her to the Delhi Police.