The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s plea seeking a stay on her arrests in connection with nine FIRs lodged against her in police stations across the country over her remarks against Prophet Muhammad on a television channel. Her plea is listed to be heard by the same bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, which had made some damning observations against her while refusing her relief on July 1. The bench had held her singularly “responsible for what is happening in the country.”
After withdrawing her plea then, Sharma has filed a fresh petition seeking that all the FIRs to Delhi, while citing that death and rape threats have increased against her after SC’s remarks. She has also sought the expunction of the scathing observation made by the same bench on July 1.
In her fresh petition, Sharma has pointed out that the Kolkata police issued a “lookout circular” against her a day after the top court’s observations. She has also cited several threats from West Bengal “after a statement on this issue was made by the chief minister,” and claimed that it would be “completely unsafe for her to go to West Bengal and seek recourse from courts in the state.”
While dismissing her plea to club all FIRs and move them to Delhi, the vacation bench had stated, “What is her business to make these remarks?…The way she has ignited emotions across the country… This lady is single handedly responsible for what is happening in the country.”
The top court also held Sharma responsible for the gruesome beheading of an Udaipur tailor for expressing support to her in the row over her comments against the Prophet. “She actually has a loose tongue and has made all kinds of irresponsible statements on TV and set the entire country on fire. Yet, she claims to be a lawyer of 10 years standing. She should have immediately apologised for her comments to the whole country,” the vacation bench of Justices Pardiwala and Kant had observed.
The remarks have since come in for criticism with several former judges and bureaucrats issuing a statement and alleging that that the bench had “crossed the Lakshman Rekha.”