New Delhi, Jul 19, 2022, By Special Correspondent
New Delhi, Jul 19 (PTI) Sacked BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma Tuesday got a reprieve from the Supreme Court which ruled that no coercive steps be taken against her in all FIRs over remarks on the Prophet Mohammed during a television debate show.
The apex court directed that “no coercive action” be taken against her till the next hearing on August 10.
The top court also said it never intended the BJP leader to visit every court for relief in the hate speech cases against her.
“In the light of the subsequent events, the concern of this Court is how to ensure that the petitioner is able to seek alternative remedy. In order to explore such modality, we issue notice,” said a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala.
Delhi, Maharashtra, Telengana, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam are the states that have been asked to respond to her case.
Interestingly, the same bench had on July 1 declined to entertain Sharma's plea, saying she has a “loose tongue” and is “single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country”, including in Udaipur where a tailor was hacked to death in June for allegedly sharing her remarks.
Sharma's lawyer told the Supreme Court that she had been facing increasing threats to her life since the court's scathing order on July 1.
"There is ever increasing threat to her safety. No amount of security could help her. Whatever happened in Supreme Court last time may have happened. But there is a real and genuine threat now. In West Bengal also there is an FIR against her," said her lawyer Maninder Singh.
After the July 1 order, she pleaded, there had been instances like an Ajmer Dargah employee threatening on video to slit her throat and another UP resident abusing her and threatening to behead her.
The bench permitted the petitioner to file an additional affidavit giving specific details of the threats extended to her after filing the application.