FIRs against Amish Devgan for Sufi saint remarks: SC extends protection from coercive action till Aug 31

The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the protection from any coercive action till August 31 in the plea seeking quashing of FIRs against journalist Amish Devgan for making derogatory remarks against Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti due to pleadings being incomplete, legal news website LiveLaw.in has reported.

A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar & Dinesh Maheshwari took note that the newly registered FIR in the state of Madhya Pradesh against the TV anchor now stands transferred before the state of Uttar Pradesh, P.S. Noida & directed the petitioner's counsel, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra to amend the petition accordingly.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has been directed to file its response within one week of service of notice. The matter will be taken up for further consideration on August 31 and interim orders shall continue to operate.

On June 26, the Top Court had stayed till the next date of hearing, investigation and coercive action against News18 anchor Amish Devgan on the multiple FIRs registered against him over his remarks on Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

5 FIRs had been lodged against Devgan in Maharashtra, Rajasthan & Telangana. The court had issued notices to the state governments and asked the Petitioner to implead the parties and de facto complainants accordingly.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Devgan, submitted that his client had made an "inadvertent error" during his show for which he later issued public apology. Lodging of FIRs against the journalist for a "slip of tongue" is unjust and amounts to undue harassment, he submitted.

"If this starts happening, where people are dealt with for slip of the tongue, what will happen? Errors people make. He has also profusely apologised," Luthra had submitted.

He said that multiple FIRs have been registered in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Telangana against Devgan and that it would cause grave prejudice to him if he is asked to appear in different places across the country in connection with the FIRs. His family members are also being threatened and harassed, Luthra said.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant, appearing for two complainants from Maharashtra, submitted that Devgan used the term "lootera Chishti" more than once during his show.

Background:

While hosting a debate on June 15 on PILs regarding the Place of Worship Special Provision Act on his show 'Aar Par', Amish had called Khwaja Moinuddin Chisthi, better known as Khwaja Ghreeb Nawaz, an "attacker" and "looter".

Following that, several police complaints and FIRs were registered against the anchor across the country.

Devgan's petition filed through Advocate Vivek Jain seeks quashing of the FIRs which have invoked sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Devgan had also profusely apologised for referring to the Sufi Saint as a "lootera" and called it an "inadvertent error".