It is really good to see that a fortnight after the Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala had lashed out most severely at Nupur Sharma for being single handedly responsible for putting the entire nation on fire which drew scathing criticism from many eminent lawyers like Aman Lekhi, Gautam Bhatia among many others and so also former Judges of Delhi High Court like Justice (Retd SN Dhingra) and former Chief Justice of other states among many others and so also many defence senior officers like Lt Gen (Retd) VK Chaturvedi among others and so also many top bureaucrats as the role of terror module operating from across the border in Pakistan which always want to foment trouble in India at the drop of a hat was totally ignored where terrorists were given rigorous training on how to behead with one even caught red handed in Rajasthan border, the same Bench of Apex Court quite commendably in a reversal of its earlier stand of July 1 when it declined to give any relief sought to amend its earlier stance and gave an interim relief to former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma by directing that no coercive steps would be taken against her in the multiple FIRs registered in several states over her remarks on Prophet Mohammed during a television channel debate on May 26.

In an open letter to the Chief Justice of India, 117 signatories which include former Bombay High Court Chief Justice Kshitij Vyas, former Gujarat High Court Judge SM Soni, former Rajasthan High Court Judges RS Rathore and Prashant Agarwal and former Delhi High Court Judge SN Dhingra. Former IAS officers RS Gopalan and S Krishna Kumar and former top police officers SP Vaid, PC Dogra, former top defence officials like Lt Gen (Retd) VK Chaturvedi and Air Marshal (Retd) SP Singh were also among them who expressed their utmost dismay at the callous manner in which Nupur Sharma was denied any relief by the top cop and blamed squarely for terror acts for which there can be no justification on any ground whatsoever! There is no harm in acknowledging that Nupur Sharma who was at the centre of the storm has been blamed rather far too much which even I find most astounding and we need to acknowledge that her life is actually under serious immediate threat from hard core Islamic terror groups and she needs not just police protection but also protection from inconvenience, harassment and danger to her life when she travels from one state to another to fight her legal case as the top court has refused to club all the FIRs unlike Rohit Ranjan of Zee News who got such relief from the top court even though he faced no threats from radical Islamic terror groups!

Most sagaciously, Justice (Retd) SN Dhingra said that:
The law says that if you want to convict a person, you must first frame the charge against him, then the prosecution will present its evidence, after which he will get an opportunity to give his statement on that evidence. He/she then gets a chance to present his/her witnesses. After that it is the duty of the court to take into account all the evidence and give its verdict. In my view this remark is very irresponsible in itself. The Supreme Court has no right to make any such remark that the entire career of the person who has come to seek justice may be ruined or all the courts are prejudiced against him/her. Even the Supreme Court is not above the law. There can be just no denying or disputing it! How can Nupur Sharma be blamed for Kanhaiya Lal’s brutal and most ghastly beheading in Udaipur by those who attended terror training camps in Pakistan and had stayed in Pakistan for a long time and similarly for huge violence at selected places?


It is rightly pointed out in the editorial column titled Act Of Terrorism in ‘The Times of India’ newspaper dated June 30, 2022 that:
Following the gruesome murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur – which was plainly an act of terrorism – the course of investigation suggests that governments think this was not an isolated local incident. GoI yesterday directed the National Investigation Agency to take over the probe, with the search for international links being a key dimension. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot echoed the view. He said the murder was meant to spread terror and the information available indicated the two perpetrators have contact overseas. It bears mention that the two terrorists, Mohammad Riyaz Akhtari and Gaus Mohammad who have freely admitted to murdering Lal, apparently belong to groups that believe that the punishment for blasphemy must be death and even went to Pakistan to get training. Indeed, the most chilling aspect of what Riyaz and Gaus did was the videography, reminiscent of ISIS-style brutality. Clearly, what happened in Udaipur requires a multi-level and multi-agency response.

It must be underscored that those who resort to stone pelting or burning of trains or burning of buses or any other kind of violence in a democratic country like India must be punished with the strictest punishment and should never be allowed to go scot free. We saw how in Kanpur among other cities, many protesters who were protesting against the statement of Nupur Sharma pelted stones and damaged vehicles and ransacked shops etc! Violence by anyone whether he/she is a Hindu or Muslim or Sikh or anyone else cannot be justified under any circumstances! If anyone tries to justify this then it will definitely become a most dangerous trend which will be justified on one pretext or the other which can never be in the long term national interest and cannot be ever justified under any circumstances!

It is really most shocking to see that in a democratic country like India which believes in pluralism and tolerance and harmony, we see just one argument in a TV channel assuming such gargantuan proportions which cannot be ever justified. It is so shocking to see that some leaders and fundamentalists organizations are openly calling for action to be taken against Nupur Sharma and hanging her publicly which I find most reprehensible because we are a democratic country and not some hard core Islamic country like Afghanistan! This has only compelled many Hindu organizations like VHP, Bajrang Dal among others to come out openly in full support of Nupur Sharma and they have a legitimate point too that so much of brouhaha is being made over a debate discussion in a news channel in which the other panelist Tasleem Ahmed Rehmani also was seen making some sarcastic remarks about Lord Shiv which provoked Nupur Sharma also to reply in anger as was pointed out even by a very eminent Maulana of Pakistan as stated above.

It cannot be glossed over that a very eminent Muslim scholar named Maulana Salafi Engineer Mohammad Ali Mirza of Pakistan has fully supported Nupur Sharma. He said that the Muslim panelist had first provoked Nupur Sharma by commenting and it was in response to this that she commented about the Prophet. Mirza said that:
We have to see the whole atmosphere in this entire controversy. The real culprit is the Muslim guy who first mocked Hindu religion in the live TV show. BJP leader [Nupur Sharma] made remarks about the Prophet in rebuttal. Islam does not allow us to mock other religions. He said that from the style and tone of Nupur Sharma’s statement, it will be known that she is retaliating. He said that the first criminal is a Muslim who talked about one’s religion in a live TV program but about whom none is speaking in India. This is what even I find really atrocious!

Maulana Ali further said that in the Nupur Sharma controversy, people of the Arab countries are provoking the atmosphere by sitting in ACs while in India people are protesting in the scorching heat and the policemen are answering them. He further puts across his point saying that:
This is basically an international politics. Arab countries are the slaves of those nations who are not the allies of Russia. These countries instigated Arab countries against India. Before this, there have been many big cases on which Arab countries did not react. Now Arab countries were instigated to put pressure on India regarding Russia. No doubt, the reference is to countries like Canada, US, UK and other European countries!

We are a democratic country where every person has a right to put across his/her viewpoint. If Nupur Sharma has said something wrong the law is there to take her to task but what about the person named Tasleem Ahmed Rehmani who provoked first Nupur Sharma? Why no one is talking about him? Why he commented adversely about Lord Shiv and the Shivalinga found in the Gyanvapi Masjid well when the matter is sub-judice which is just not being discussed anywhere but which even a Maulana based in Pakistan is pointing out as I have just mentioned above! Nupur Sharma who herself is a lawyer has a legitimate point when she claims that her comments were a reaction to continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev (Lord Shiva) by the other panelist named Tasleem Ahmed Rehmani who was also speaking on the TV debate and who happens to be a Muslim. Why no one is talking about him also? Why only Nupur Sharma is alone being selectively made a scapegoat? Why we don’t see anyone mentioning about that person also? This makes it indubitably clear that we practice discrimination in such a terrible manner which cannot be ever justified under any circumstances!

It is said that Nupur Sharma made some controversial comments about Prophet Mohammad who is the founder of Islam. It merits no reiteration that no sane person can ever in his right senses ever endorse anything wrong said about such a prominent personality whom Muslims hold in the highest esteem. She spoke about Prophet Mohammad marrying with a very small girl. We don’t even get to read as to what exactly she said. She later apologized also humbly for the remarks which she made while speaking in a discussion in a news channel. Then why so much of brouhaha is made not just in India but all across the globe! We see so many times even Hindu Gods and Goddesses are not spared and famous painter MF Hussain even painted Goddess Sita naked! This is what in this case I find most reprehensible as the matters were not allowed to rest with an apology and some vested interests further abetted the controversy with their provocative speeches! But I am glad to see that many Muslim prominent faces too are condemning the issuing of death threats to Nupur Sharma and have voiced the controversy to be laid to rest as she has apologized.

It is however, most refreshing to note that in an apparent rethink after 18 days, the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala sought to clarify that when it denied her the relief during the hearing on July 1, it did not mean to compel Sharma to approach several courts spanning different states where the FIRs were lodged against her. The Bench also added that:
We will correct it to the small extent that we never wanted you to go to all the courts. The Bench added graciously that is concerned about ensuring that Sharma is able to resort to legal remedies available to her under the law.

It is most reassuring to note that the Bench of Apex Court cited the emergence of new facts after the last hearing of July 1. These included death threats to Nupur through two viral videos – one from an Ajmer Dargah cleric and another by a man from Uttar Pradesh – announcing a reward for beheading her. Nupur’s lawyer and senior advocate Maninder Singh submitted that after Supreme Court’s order of July 1, genuine and serious life threats have surfaced against her and due to threats to life and liberty, she is not in a position to avail the alternate remedy of approaching the High Court as earlier directed by the Apex Court. As was stated by Maninder Singh, the Bench also recorded the facts of issuance of a lookout circular against Sharma by West Bengal Police and the presence of her address in the cell phone of a man arrested in Bihar in connection with a terror module case.

It must also be disclosed here that Nupur’s lawyer Maninder also while pointing out that there is a real threat to her life elaborated stating that:
There are reports that someone was travelling from Pakistan to kill her and some were apprehended in Patna who were planning to execute her. Maninder also had a valid point when he said that it is virtually impossible for her to travel to different High Courts for getting the FIRs quashed.

It must be pointed out here that while reviving the petition of Nupur Sharma which was earlier dismissed as withdrawn on July 1, the Apex Court most commendably due to all these fresh developments did the right thing in issuing notices to the Centre and states including Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Delhi on the key issue of clubbing the FIRs pending against Sharma in these states to Delhi. The FIRs have been lodged against her for various charges under IPC for promoting enmity between religions, offending religious sentiments and making statements conducing to public mischief. It must also be disclosed here that of the nine FIRs that were filed against her, five are pending in Maharashtra, two in West Bengal and one each in Delhi and Telangana. The Court directed in its order most sagaciously that:
Meanwhile, as an interim measure, it is directed that no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner pursuant to the impugned FIRs or such FIRs/complaints which may be registered/entertained in future pertaining to the same telecast dated May 26, 2022. To put it differently, this will ensure that Nupur Sharma is protected from arrest in any of the pending FIRs or in case of a new FIR that some one may file in the future. The Apex Court will hear the Nupur Sharma case again on August 10.

It is also good to note that Maninder Singh himself lauded the Bench for its magnanimity and for appreciating the top judgments which he had personally shown to the top court where in similar such cases, the Apex Court had stayed the multiple FIRs and granted protection from arrest before finally clubbing the FIRs at one place. The Apex Court must be lauded for conceding graciously now that:
There is continuing threat to her life. These threats are genuine and real…We never wanted you or your family to be put in any kind of danger. The court recorded the threats given to her after July 1: One Salman Chisti claiming to be a Khadim of Ajmer Dargah has circulated a video whereby in a very disturning manner he has called upon for cutting the throat of the appellant/petitioner; One Nasir of UP has made a viral video using abusive language against the petitioner and threatening to behead her. Some more FIRs have been registered in West Bengal which were earlier not in the knowledge of the petitioner; and the Kolkata police issuing a ‘lookout circular’ on July 2.

All told, it must be conceded that Nupur Sharma has definitely got some interim relief after a prolonged struggle finally from the top court now which will protect her from all the FIRs that have been lodged or will be lodged in the future as elaborated hereinabove. But Centre too now must step forward and take the lead in providing her Z or Y grade security as her life is actually in serious threat which itself is demonstrated best by how the same Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala have softened their earlier rigid stand in granting no relief. Maninder Singh who is her lawyer must be also generously applauded for convincing the Apex Court to grant her relief and the same Bench has now most commendably granted interim relief for which the Bench also deserves to be most deservingly applauded!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col (Retd) BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut - 250001, Uttar Pradesh