[Tweet targeting Sharad Pawar] Bombay High Court refuses immediate relief to 22-year-old

The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to grant urgent relief to 22-year-old Nikhil Bhamre who is presently in judicial custody after he was arrested by Thane police for putting objectionable tweets against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar [Nikhil Bhamre v. State of Maharashtra]..Bhamre had approached the High Court seeking to club the several FIRs registered against him across Mumbai city and suburbs for his social media post against Pawar. His lawyer Advocate Subhash Jha cited several Supreme Court judgments which had held that in the event there are multiple FIRs, those ought to be clubbed together and tried in one single place. While the Court deemed it fit to seek reply from the prosecuting agency before proceeding to hear the matter, Jha emphasized that the accused's freedom of speech had been curtailed. A bench of Justices SS Shinde and MN Jadhav, however, was not inclined to grant any relief without giving the State an opportunity to file a response. The bench also opined that rights come with a set of reasonable restrictions to be followed."Whatever rights we assert are subject to restrictions. There are restrictions with fundamental rights. We have right to enjoy but not to interfere in someone’s right to peaceful life. Rights are subject to restrictions. Merely because I have rights doesn’t mean I exercise them without looking into restrictions," Justice Shinde remarked. .The Court was also informed that the accused's bail application had been rejected by the Thane Court in the last week. Justice Shinde mused whether Jha was going to challenge the bail order as well. Jha said that with the multiple FIRs having been filed, Bhamre may have to approach courts several times. Instead, Jha suggested that the Court could consider the same in this writ by invoking its constitutional powers. "But not every challenge can be taken up by constitutional courts," Justice Shinde quipped in response..The Bench posted the matter for hearing on Friday, and directed the State to produce the investigation reports in each FIR showing the stage of investigation. .Bhamre was booked under multiple FIRs for allegedly committing offences under Sections 153, 153A, (Promoting enmity between groups) 500, 501 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 505, 506 (statements leading to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).His plea stated that filing of multiple FIRs against him, filed in an organised and synchronized manner for the same offence, was a gross abuse of process of law.