NAVIKA KUMARversusUNION OF INDIA & OTHERS

182                      [2022]REPORTS
               SUPREME COURT   16 S.C.R. 182                [2022] 16 S.C.R.


A                              NAVIKA KUMAR
                                        v.
                        UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS
                    (Writ Petition (criminal) No. 286 of 2022)
B                            SEPTEMBER 23, 2022
               [M. R. SHAH AND KRISHNA MURARI, JJ.]
             Constitution of India: Art 32 – Writ of Certiorari – Petitioner
      was the anchor of Newshour Debate (debate) telecasted on Times
      Now – Various FIRs/criminal complaints filed against the petitioner
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      in relation to the debate telecasted on 26.05.2022 – Petitioner prayed
      for quashing the FIRs/complaints described in the instant writ
      petition or any other FIR/criminal complaint that may be instituted
      in future arising out of the same incident – Petitioner also prayed
      that the various FIR/Complaints be clubbed together – Held: Taking
D     into consideration the order passed by this court at earlier occasion
      in the case of co-accused, all FIRs/complaints against the petitioner
      are directed to be transferred to the IFSO unit of Delhi Police –
      IFSO unit of Delhi Police shall be at liberty to collect and gather
      any information from the concerned State agencies for the purpose
      of conducting a thorough investigation – No coercive action shall
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      be taken against the petitioner in FIRs/complaints already lodged
      or that may be lodged in future pertaining to the debate for a period
      of eight weeks from the date of judgment so as to enable the petitioner
      to approach the concerned Court for appropriate relief – The
      investigation of any subsequent FIRs/complaints which are registered
F     in future in respect of the debate shall stand transferred to IFSO
      unit of Delhi police – With respect to quashing of FIR/complaint,
      the petitioner is at liberty to pursue such prayer by approaching
      the High Court u/Art.226 or s.482 of Code – Writ petition disposed
      of – Code of Criminal Procedure – s.482.
G           CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition
      (Criminal) No. 286 of 2022.
            Under Article 32 of The Constitution of India
            Maninder Singh, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Sr. Advs., Ms. Ruby Singh
      Ahuja, Ms. Meenakshi Grover, Pawan Noray, Varun Khanna, Ms. Kritika
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                                       182
       NAVIKA KUMAR v. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS                                     183


Sachdeva, Lakshya Khanna, Dhruv Sharma, Raghav Agrawal, Jappan                     A
Preet Hora, Prabhas Bajaj, Ms. Ashita Chawla, Ajay Sabharwal, Pranav
Saigal, Raghav Tewari, Navneet R., M/S. Karanjawala & Co., Advs.
for the Petitioner.
       Tushar Mehta, SG, K. M. Nataraj, ASG, Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, Kanu
Agarwal, Navanjay Mahapatra, Ms. Rooh-e-Hina Dua, Ms. Neela Kedar                  B
Gokhale, Shailesh Madiyal, Nakul Chengappa K.K., Harshit Khanduja,
Kanishak Bunderwal, G S Makker, A.K. Sharma, Ms. Astha Sharma,
Ravinder Singh, Ms. Raveesha Gupta, Ms. Mantika Haryani, Shreyas
Awasthi, M/s. Plr Chambers and Co., Ms. Taruna Ardhendumauli Prasad,
Ms. Shreya Srivastava, Ms. Ananya Sahu, Aman Singh Bhadauria, Advs.
for the Respondents.                                                               C

      The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
      M. R. SHAH, J.
       1. By way of this petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution
of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following substantive reliefs,         D
      (a) Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of
      certiorari quashing the Impugned FIRs/Complaints described in
      paragraph 17 of the present Petition or any other FIR/Criminal
      Complaint filed or inquiry or investigation instituted or to be instituted
      in the future in relation to the Petitioner arising out of the same          E
      incident/occurrence, i.e., the Newshour Debate telecasted on
      Times Now on 26.05.2022;
      (b) Alternatively, issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in
      the nature of transfer and club all FIRs including the Impugned
      FIRs/Criminal Complaints described in paragraph 17, and any other            F
      FIR/Criminal Complaint filed or inquiry or investigation instituted
      or to be instituted in the future in relation to the Petitioner arising
      out of same incident/ occurrence, i.e., the Newshour Debate
      telecasted on Times Now on 26.05.2022 with FIR No. 130 of
      2022 registered by the Special Cell, Delhi Police i.e. the first
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      reported FIR in relation to the said incident/occurrence;
      (c) Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of
      mandamus restraining Respondents and/or any other authority to
      take any coercive steps pursuant to the Impugned FIRs/Criminal
      Complaints described in paragraph 17 of the present Petition or
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184             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                             [2022] 16 S.C.R.


A            any other FIR/Criminal Complaint filed or inquiry or investigation
             instituted or to be instituted in the future in relation to the Petitioner
             arising out of same incident/occurrence, i.e., the Newshour Debate
             telecasted on Times Now on 26.05.2022;
             (d) Issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ of appropriate
B            nature to the effect that no cognizance of any complaint would be
             taken by any court nor any FIR registered by the police in relation
             to or arising out of the same incident/ occurrence i.e., the
             Newshour Debate Telecasted on Times Now on 26.05.2022.
             (e) Allow the Petitioner to amend the present Writ Petition in the
C            event that any other FIR is registered on the same cause of action
             in future
             with respect to the various FIRs/criminal complaints filed against
      the petitioner in different police stations in different States in relation to
      the incident/occurrence – Newshour Debate telecasted on Times Now
D     on 26.05.2002.
             2. The particulars of different FIRs/criminal complaints filed
      against the petitioner, of which the reliefs are sought in the present petition,
      are as under:

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       NAVIKA KUMAR v. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS                                 185
                   [M. R. SHAH, J.]

        2.1 It is also submitted that apart from the aforesaid FIRs/           A
complaints, two more FIRs have been filed against the petitioner, details
of which are given below, which are not the part of the present writ
petition:


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       3. It is the case on behalf of the petitioner, who at the relevant
time was the anchor who conducted the Newshour Debate telecasted
on Times Now on 26.05.2022, that with respect to the aforesaid FIRs/
criminal complaints in case of another co-accused – Nupur Sharma, this
Court vide order dated 10.08.2022 in Miscellaneous Application No.             D
1238/2022 in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 239/2022 has transferred the
respective FIRs/complaints to IFSO Unit of Delhi Police for the purpose
of investigation. Therefore, it is the case on behalf of the petitioner that
similar order may be passed in case of the petitioner also who is the co-
accused in the transferred FIRs/complaints as there cannot be two
investigating agencies with respect to same FIRs/complaints.                   E
       4. Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Solicitor General of India appearing
for the Union of India and also appearing on behalf of the Government
of NCT of Delhi, State of Maharashtra, and Union Territory of Jammu
& Kashmir and Shri Ravinder Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf
of the State of West Bengal are not in a position to dispute the above         F
fact that the same FIRs/complaints in which the petitioner is also a co-
accused are transferred to IFSO Unit of Delhi Police.
       5. We have heard learned counsel for the respective parties and
considered the order passed by this Court dated 10.08.2022 in
Miscellaneous Application No. 1238/2022 in Writ Petition (Criminal) No.        G
239/2022 by which with respect to the aforesaid FIRs/complaints except
two FIRs arising out of the same incident/occurrence, namely, Newshour
Debate telecasted on times Now on 26.05.2022, the investigation/s is/
are transferred to IFSO unit of Delhi Police. The FIRs/complaints which
are transferred to IFSO unit of Delhi Police, in which the petitioner is
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186            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2022] 16 S.C.R.


A     also a co-accused, there cannot be two investigating agencies with respect
      to the same FIRs/complaints arising out of the same incident/occurrence
      with respect to different co-accused. On the aforesaid ground as well
      as on the ground of parity, the FIRs/complaints, referred to hereinabove,
      are also required to be transferred to IFSO unit of Delhi Police so far as
      the petitioner is concerned being co-accused.
B
            6. At this stage, it is required to be noted that by the aforesaid
      order dated 10.08.2022 in the case of accused Nupur Sharma, this
      Court has also passed an order that investigation of any subsequent
      FIRs/complaints which are registered in future in respect of the same
      incident/occurrence, namely, Newshour Debate telecasted on Times Now
C     on 26.05.2022 shall also stand transferred to IFSO unit of Delhi Police.
             7. Taking into consideration the order passed by this Court dated
      10.08.2022 in the case of accused Nupur Sharma passed in
      Miscellaneous Application No. 1238/2022 in Writ Petition (Criminal) No.
      239/2022, we dispose of the present writ petition with the following
D     directions:
            i) all FIRs/complaints, referred to hereinabove in paragraph 2 and
            2.1 are ordered to be transferred to the IFSO unit of Delhi Police;
            ii) first FIR No. 683 dated 28.05.2022 along with FIR No. 140 of
            2022 dated 08.06.2022 registered by Delhi Police, IFSO Unit are
E           to be treated as lead cases and investigated together along with
            the other FIRs/complaints, referred to hereinabove, in which the
            petitioner is the co-accused, which are already ordered to be
            transferred to IFSO unit of Delhi Police;
            iii) IFSO unit of Delhi Police shall be at liberty to collect and
F           gather any information from the concerned State agencies, if so
            required, for the purpose of conducting a thorough investigation
            and taking it to its logical conclusion;
            iv) no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner pursuant
            to the aforesaid FIRs/complaints and for the FIRs/complaints
G           which may be entertained in future pertaining to the telecast dated
            26.05.2022 on Times Now, for a period of eight weeks from today
            so as to enable the petitioner to approach the concerned Court/
            Delhi High Court for appropriate relief; and
            v) the investigation of any subsequent FIRs/complaints which are
H           registered in future in respect of the same Newshour Debate
        NAVIKA KUMAR v. UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS                                 187
                    [M. R. SHAH, J.]

       telecasted on Times Now on 26.05.2022 shall also stand transferred       A
       to IFSO unit of Delhi police.
       8. As far as the primary prayer in terms of prayer (a) in the writ
petition is concerned, the petitioner shall be at liberty to pursue such
prayer by approaching the High Court of Delhi under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India or Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code. As         B
and when such proceedings are instituted by the petitioner, the same
shall be considered in accordance with law and on their own merits. We
clarify and make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the
merits of the allegations contained in the various FIRs/complaints.
       9. The present petition stands disposed of in terms of the above.        C

Devika Gujral                                      Writ petition disposed of.
(Assisted by : Neha Sharma, LCRA)



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