The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from Tamil Nadu and Bihar governments on a plea by a YouTuber Manish Kashyap – accused of posting fake news on alleged attacks on migrant workers from Bihar and their consequent fleeing – for the clubbing of five FIRs lodged against him in the two states.
Seeking response from Tamil Nadu and Bihar, a bench of Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Sanjay Karol gave a week’s time to file reply and posted the matter for hearing on April 21.
The bench also issued a notice to the Central government.
Manish Kashyap is in the custody of the Tamil Nadu Police. Earlier, a Madurai court had remanded him to police custody for questioning.
In the course of the hearing, senior advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for Kashyap, said he is facing five prosecutions in two states and one offence cannot give rise to multiple proceedings.
Dave urged the court to let the Bihar FIR be the lead FIR and let there be a hands-off approach in other FIRs registered in Tamil Nadu. I am being taken to Tamil Nadu where I do not even understand the language.
However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that the fake news has resulted in the deaths and it is not such a simple matter. He is already detained under NSA.
As the bench said, “We are saying no coercive action till we hear it again,” Sibal said that he is already in custody.
The court said, “We are saying no further coercive action …”