The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the transfer of all the FIRs registered against Naveen Kumar Jindal, former media head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit, for his remarks against Prophet Muhammad, to the Delhi Police.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh transferred all the FIRs to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police.
The apex court also granted Jindal protection against coercive action for a period of eight weeks to enable him to approach the Delhi High Court for appropriate relief.
"Considering the fact that the respective complaints of the FIRs which are sought to be transferred to New Delhi are arising out of the same tweet by the same Twitter handle, and also taking into consideration the order passed by this Court on September 23 in Navika Kumar case, we dispose of the present writ petition with the direction that all FIRs/complaints are ordered to be transferred to the IFSO unit of Delhi Police...," the bench stated in its order.
Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for the now-expelled BJP leader, relied on the orders passed by the apex court in the cases of former BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma, against whom FIRs were filed following the Prophet Mohammad remarks controversy.
The senior counsel requested the apex court to grant Jindal protection against coercive steps, clubbing of FIRs lodged in Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Assam and to transfer of all the FIRs to Delhi Police.
Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, appearing on behalf of the investigating agency, agreed to the proposal.
Jindal came under the scanner for making certain remarks on Twitter about Prophet Muhammad which triggered protests in the country after which he was expelled.
Earlier, the top court gave similar relief to Nupur Sharma and Navika Kumar.
( With inputs from ANI )
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