New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash FIRs registered against Journalist Amish Devgan for his remarks against Sufi Saint Moinnuddin Chisthi.
A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar & Sanjiv Khanna however, clubbed all FIR’s filed against Devgan and transferred them to Ajmer.
As many as 7 FIRs have been filed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra & Telangana against Devgan on the basis of alleged derogatory remarks that he made against Sufi Saint Moinnuddin Chisti on his prime time show, telecast on June 15.
While hosting a debate on June 15 on PIL’s 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 “lootera”.
Following that, several police complaints and FIRs were registered against the anchor across the country.
Devgan’s petition filed through Advocate Vivek Jain sought 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”.
The July 8 stay on investigation and coercive action against the journalist will continue.
Source: www.LiveLaw.in
