Jitendra Tyagi moves Supreme Court for clubbing criminal cases against him in Uttarakhand, J&K

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the governments of Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand to respond to the petition moved by ex-chairman of Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board Jitendra Narayan Tyagi aka Wasim Rizvi for clubbing of various hate speech cases against him [Jitendra Narayan Tyagi @ Syed Waseem Rizvi vs. State of Uttarakhand & Others].A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta in the order said,"Issue notice, returnable within four weeks... Liberty to serve notices on the standing counsel for the respondent(s)-State of Uttarakhand and U.T. of Jammu & Kashmir is granted.".Advocate Anurag Kishore, representing Tyagi, urged the court to provide interim protection to him, citing a threat to his life. "Milords, please protect me; I face a life threat," Kishore submitted.The court, however, rejected the request, saying, "Threats exist everywhere."The Court initially was inclined to dismiss the petition but later agreed to issue notice and examine the plea..Tyagi moved the top court after a local court in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district last month issued summons to him on a private complaint accusing him of insulting Islam and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. "It is respectfully submitted that although there were serious life threats to the Petitioner while appearing before the Uttarakhand High Court and specially the courts in Jammu & Kashmir which may result completely fatal for the petitioner under the present circumstances....he is provided with only two security guards which is not adequate looking into the gravity of the threat posed against the petitioner if he made to travel specially to J & K to attend the proceedings," Tyagi said in his plea before the top court.He, therefore, urged the Court to consolidate the criminal cases including one complaint case filed against him for alleged hate speech..One First Information Report (FIR) against him was registered after he released his book Muhammad at the Haridwar Press Club in June 2021, which allegedly contained defamatory statements against Prophet Muhammad.Subsequently, a complaint was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, regarding statements he made in Lucknow that were broadcast on TV in July 2021. The complainant claimed these remarks were offensive to the Muslim community.Another FIR was lodged in December 2021 at Kotwali Haridwar, Uttarakhand, accusing him of making derogatory statements about Islam while participating in a religious gathering (Dharma Sansad) held from December 17 to 19 in North Haridwar. A third FIR was registered against him in January 2022 based on similar allegations..Advocates Anurag Kishore, Lakhan Kumar Mishra and Ritika Shrivastava appeared for Tyagi..[Read Order].[Read Live Coverage]