Supreme Court clubs FIRs against Navika Kumar, transfers it to Delhi; grants interim protection for 8 weeks

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a plea by Times Now anchor Navika Kumar seeking clubbing of the cases registered against her in connection with the controversial remarks made against Prophet Muhammed by a panelist on a programme she was moderating [Navika Kumar vs Union of India and ors]..A bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari ordered that all first information reports (FIRs) against Kumar be transferred to Delhi."All FIRs/complaints ... are ordered to be transferred to the IFSO unit of Delhi Police. FIRs ... registered by Delhi Police, IFSO Unit are to be treated as lead cases and investigated together along with the other FIRs/complaints," the Court said.Pertinently, the Court also ordered that no subsequent FIRs or coercive action be taken against Kumar for a period of 8 weeks so that she can move the Delhi High Court for quashing of the lead FIRs.The Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police was given liberty to collect information from the concerned State agencies for its ongoing probe in the matter. .Kumar was booked after former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma had made derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad on Kumar's show. Sharma's controversial remarks had created a furore and even led to some Islamic nations summoning Indian ambassadors and high commissioners. The ruling BJP government had distanced itself from Sharma and also suspended her.FIRs came to be registered against Sharma and Kumar in various parts of the country. Kumar was booked in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. She then moved the apex court seeking quashing of the cases or clubbing of the same and transferring to one State.She had cited the fact that Sharma had got relief from top court which had transferred similar FIRs against her to Delhi. During the hearing of Kumar's case, the Bench had, however, orally opined that the nature of the relief sought cannot be the same as that given in former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's case (who had made the remarks in question), as Sharma's case was not decided on merits but due to a threat perception.Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Neeraj Kishan Kaul appeared for Kumar. Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy and advocate Ravinder Singh appeared for the West Bengal government. .[Read judgment]