Image Courtesy:economictimes
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the state governments of Assam, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh in a plea by Sharjeel Imam for clubbing of 5 FIRs registered against him for offences of hate speech. The states have been given 2 weeks to file their responses.
The bench, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan issued notice to theses states after Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for Delhi government contended that all states should be heard by the court before passing an order for clubbing the FIRs filed against Imam for speeches delivered in Delhi and Aligarh.
Besides hate speech, Imam has been charged with sedition and certain provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. He was arrested on January 28 and has pleaded the apex court to let a single agency investigate into his case after the clubbing of the FIRs.
Imam who is currently lodged in Guwahati jail had delivered a speech in Aligarh Muslim University on January 16 in which he had said that roads leading to Assam should be “cut off” from the rest of the country as part of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
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