The Article 32 Question

Some might argue that the Article 32 point was relevant here, especially given recent comments by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde about how the apex court was trying to discourage Article 32 petitions (ie., pleas to the Supreme Court to protect fundamental rights, which can also often be filed in the relevant high court under Article 226 instead). However, while the court may have legitimate grounds to ask people to approach high courts first for reliefs, all citizens nonetheless have the right to approach the Supreme Court for protection of fundamental rights directly. And when the issue involves multiple states – FIRs have been filed in six states according to the lawyers for the Tandav makers – the Supreme Court is the only authority that can provide a broad relief. Furthermore, in both Goswami and Devgan’s cases, the question of whether a direct Article 32 petition in the Supreme Court was the appropriate measure was considered. The benches there in both cases noted that there was an issue of freedom of speech involved, and this meant the court could not ignore the potential violation of rights.

An Issue Settled for 20 Years

This is hardly some difficult legal issue to comprehend, and this isn’t some newfangled idea that requires a re-examination of judicial precedent. In 2001, the Supreme Court had to deal with this issue in the TT Antony vs State of Kerala case. The court held there that the very concept of an FIR – a First Information Report – meant that there could be no second FIR with regard to the same cognizable offence. This is because the investigation is supposed to cover not just the alleged cognizable offence reported in the FIR, but any other possible offences that arise from the same set of facts. In fact, the court went on to say that any subsequent FIRs would be an abuse of the statutory power of investigation. With regard to Tandav , after an initial FIR in Hazratganj, Lucknow, subsequent FIRs were filed in other police stations in Uttar Pradesh (including Greater Noida and Shahjahanapur), as well as police stations in other states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, all for the same or similar accusations.

Interim Protection From Arrest Essential For Liberty

Given the Supreme Court has issued notice on the issue of clubbing FIRs despite refusing interim relief, it is nonetheless possible that the undue harassment will be dealt with when the court takes the matter up further. However, the risk of having to run around different courts in the country to get bail/anticipatory bail continues during this time. It may well be that in the four weeks the court has given before its next hearing, the petitioners could face arrest in multiple jurisdictions while trying to file the numerous bail applications required. This would defeat the entire purpose of the court hearing the request for clubbing the FIRs. This is indeed why Justice Chandrachud noted in his very first order on interim protection for Goswami in April 2020 that, “Ensuring that in order to enable the citizen to pursue legal remedies, a protection of personal liberty against coercive steps be granted for a limited duration in the meantime.” The lawyers for the Tandav petitioners in the Supreme Court desperately tried to make this point but again, no reasoning was offered for why such interim protection was refused. The refusal of these reliefs runs the risk of leaving any eventual order of the Supreme Court on clubbing the FIRs entirely redundant, and ignores all the precedents set out by the court.

Is SC Ignoring its Own Orders to Deny Protection to Tandav Makers?

Did the Supreme Court of India ignore its own recent precedents, when denying protection from arrest to people involved in Amazon web-series Tandav?

On 24 April 2020, Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami was granted interim protection from arrest by the Supreme Court of India in connection with the multiple FIRs registered against him across the country for his show on the Palghar lynchings.

The apex court stayed all the FIRs except one, and transferred that one to Mumbai, so as to ensure that the investigation could continue, without prejudicing Goswami’s rights. A more detailed judgment followed in May 2020 confirming this decision and setting out even more reasons in law for doing the same, and extending the protection from arrest.

Two months later, the Supreme Court offered similar protection to News18’s Amish Devgan in the multiple FIRs filed against him for an allegedly inflammatory remark about Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

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Is SC Ignoring its Own Orders to Deny Protection to Tandav Makers?

In both Arnab Goswami and Amish Devgan cases, courts had granted interim protection because of multiplicity of FIRs.

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Topics: Tandav