Plea by Sharjeel Imam in SC to club FIRs for speeches in anti-CAA protests, court issues notice 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the states of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in the plea filed by JNU student Sharjeel Imam seeking to club all FIRs filed against him for his speech during the anti-CAA protests in Delhi, reports legal news website BarandBench.com.

The states have been given two weeks to respond.

Earlier this month, the court had sought the Delhi Government's response on the plea. Appearing for the Delhi Government on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the Court that the Delhi Government's reply in the matter is ready.

During the last hearing, advocate Siddharth Dave had apprised the court that five different FIRs at Delhi, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh were registered against his client, Sharjeel Imam based on the same speech.

He had further pointed out that the Supreme Court had recently stayed investigation in different FIRs filed across the country against the Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, while keeping only two FIRs alive.

“Now the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act is also being invoked. We seek clubbing of all the FIRS,” said Dave.

However, the Court in the last hearing had orally observed, "There is nothing wrong in police registering FIR if they come to know about some cognizable offence."

The plea concerns sedition charges slapped against Sharjeel Imam, alleging that a speech by him had "promoted enmity" between people and led to riots in and around Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia University on December 15, 2019.