The higher court has extended the protection against any coercive action to the journalist.
New Delhi:
On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn the FIRs against Amish television host Devgan for his alleged defamatory comment against Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti during a show on June 15, but said he will receive protection from any coercive action if he continues. cooperating with the investigation.
A bench of judges AM Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna also transferred all FIRs filed against Amish Devgan in different states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, to Ajmer in Rajasthan.
The higher court had previously granted Amish Devgan protection against any enforcement action in relation to the FIRs.
Several FIRs were brought against Amish Devgan for using a derogatory term for the Sufi saint on the news talk show called “Aar Paar” on his channel on June 15. Amish Devgan later tweeted an apology saying that he was actually referring to Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji and inadvertently ended up naming Chisti.
Amish Devgan, through his lawyer Mrinal Bharti, had moved to the higher court to quash the FIRs saying it was a slip and he had already expressed regret for the “inadvertent” mistake.
He had told the higher court that “none of the FIRs said that public order was being disturbed.”
Lead lawyer Manish Singhvi, who appeared for Rajasthan, had opposed Amish Devgan’s request to annul the FIRs saying that the investigation is a right of the police.
The higher court, while granting provisional measures to Amish Devgan, also suspended the investigation in the cases involving the television broadcast against the journalist. The journalist has said that the statement referred to his life and freedom.
“In a well-orchestrated manner, the petitioner has been the victim of the nationwide filing of a false and unsubstantiated criminal complaint and FIR on the one hand, and on the other hand, the petitioner, his family, and his crew have been blatantly abused in social networks and personal messages from strangers.
“The petitioner has also received several death threats from various antisocial elements,” Amish Devgan’s guilty plea filed.
He said Amish Devgan was discussing a petition filed with the superior court on its June 15 show on the subject of the Special Provisions on Places of Worship Act.
“During the course of the heated live discussion, one of the panelists quoted ” Chisti ” (Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti) and inadvertently, the petitioner (Amish Devgan) who wanted to refer to the historical figure Khilji (Alauddin Khilji) as a marauder mentioned the name ” Chisti ” “, the statement was filed.
“That immediately upon realizing his inadvertent slip during the heated debate on his program, the petitioner offered a clarification and clarified that the name ‘Chisti’ was mentioned by mistake and inadvertently,” he said.
Amish Devgan tweeted the clarification on his personal Twitter account on the middle night of June 16-17.
The channel also broadcast a clarification video with the journalist, according to the statement.
The Sufi saint’s dargah in Ajmer is an important pilgrimage center and is visited by thousands of people every day.
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