The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the arrest of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, and others, who challenged the registration of multiple FIRs against them for allegedly sharing certain unconfirmed news on the death of one of the protestors, during the Kisan tractor rally on Republic Day.
Kapil Sibal, senior lawyer appearing for Tharoor and Sardesai, sought an immediate stay on the arrest of his clients and said, "Mylords, I seek immediate relief in the case."
"We stay the arrest till we hear the matter further," the bench, comprising of Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubraman, said.
The apex court also issued a notice to the state of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and others, seeking replies in the registration of FIRs.
During the course of the hearing, when Sibal pleaded for no coercive action till the matter further being taken up for hearing, Bobde, asked him, "Where is the danger?"
To Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta appearing for the Delhi Police, the CJI asked, "Mr Mehta, are you going to arrest them till we hear you?"
Mehta replied, "One should always think about the horrendous effect these tweets could have, as they have a lot of followers," assuring that they would not be arrested till the next date of hearing.
The other accused persons, besides Sardesai and Tharoor who got relief and cannot be arrested till further hearing in the case from the apex court, include Anant and Paresh Nath, Mrinal Pandey, Zafar Agha and Vinod K Jose.
They all had allegedly made incorrect statements and reported wrongly on the tractor rally violence on Republic Day and face several FIRs in many states.
( With inputs from ANI )
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