Shaheen Abdulla vs. Rajnish Seth

ITEM NO.45

COURT NO.3

SECTION PIL-W

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 943/2021

ASHWINI KUMAR UPADHYAY

Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Respondent $(s)$

(MR. SANJAY HEGDE, SR. ADV. WITH MR. ANAS TANWAR, ADV.)

WITH

W.P.(C) No. 956/2020 (PIL-W)

(With IA No. 91135/2020 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS and IA No. 93533/2020 - CLARIFICATION/DIRECTION and IA No. 96666/2020 - EARLY HEARING APPLICATION and IA No. 94614/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 91134/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 94600/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 94685/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 98416/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 90944/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 93535/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 94668/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 92913/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 91171/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 91136/2020 EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 105261/2020 EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No. 92885/2020 - INITIATING CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS and IA $\mathsf{NO}$ 95066/2020 -INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 96664/2020 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 94643/2020 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 96369/2020 -INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 94633/2020 -TNTFRVFNTTON APPLICATION and IA No. 95678/2020 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 108087/2020 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 95675/2020 -INTERVENTION APPLICATION $\quad\text{and}\quad$ $\mathbf{I}\mathbf{A}$ $\mathbf{N}$ O. 94683/2020 $\overline{a}$ INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT $\quad\text{and}\quad$ $\mathbf{A}^{\mathbf{T}}$ $\mathbf{N}$ $\mathbf{\Omega}$ 98414/2020 $\overline{a}$ 94667/2020 INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT $\quad \text{and} \quad$ $TA$ No. INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT $\quad\text{and}\quad$ $\mathbf{I}\mathbf{A}$ No. ${\bf 94621/2020}$ INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 105260/2020 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES)

W.P.(C) No. 788/2020 (PIL-W)

(With IA No. 50785/2020 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. <pre>smalled AR329/2020 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 72236/2020 - STAY</pre> Digital Aspectric Lication )

Date: 2026-01<br>16:21:17 IST<br>Reason:

W.P.(C) No. 789/2020 (PIL-W) (With IA No. 50786/2020 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 48338/2020 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 72228/2020 - STAY APPLICATION)

W.P.(C) No. 477/2020 (PIL-W) (With IA No. 48986/2020 - EX-PARTE STAY and IA No. 48987/2020 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA No. 51005/2020 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT)

SLP(C) No. 6913/2021 (XII-A) (FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.61254/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT and IA No.61346/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No.61255/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT and IA No.61345/2021-INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No.61253/2021-PERMISSION TO APPEAR AND ARGUE IN PERSON)

W.P.(C) No. 907/2021 (PIL-W) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.100429/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT)

W.P.(Crl.) No. 391/2021 (X) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.118374/2021-EX-PARTE AD-INTERIM RELIEF and IA No.118376/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA No.118377/2021- EXEMPTION FROM FILING AFFIDAVIT)

W.P.(C) No. 1265/2021 (X) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.150287/2021-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)

W.P.(C) No. 24/2022 (PIL-W)

(With IA No. 18251/2022 - APPLICATION FOR TAKING ON RECORD and IA No. 56876/2022 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS and IA No. 64016/2022 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS and IA No. 61197/2022 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS and IA No. 5583/2022 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA No. 59757/2022 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA No. 7452/2022 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 5581/2022 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 9313/2022 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION and IA No. 56873/2022 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 18250/2022 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 12769/2022 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 11469/2022 – INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT and IA No. 64054/2022 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES and IA No. 8935/2022 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES)

W.P.(C) No. 80/2022 (PIL-W) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.17397/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)

W.P.(C) No. 940/2022 (PIL-W) (FOR ADMISSION)

Date : 13-01-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.M. JOSEPH HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE B.V. NAGARATHNA For Petitioner(s) Mr. V. Elanchezhiyan, AOR Petitioner-in-person Mr. C. George Thomas, Adv. Ms. Prachi Pandey, Adv. Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR Mr. Abdur Razzaque Bhuyan, Adv. Mr. Raja Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Piyush Sachdev, Adv. Mr. Aditya Pathak, Adv. Ms. Aisha Siddiki, Adv. Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Senthil Jagadeesan, AOR Mr. Vinayak Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Sajal Jain, Adv. Ms. Sonakshi Malhan, Adv. Mr. Nizam Pasha, Adv. Mr. Rashmi Singh, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Mr. M. R. Shamshad, AOR Mr. Arijit Sarkar, Adv. Ms. Nabeela Jamil, Adv. Mr. Niaz A. Farooqui, Adv. Mr. Huzaifa Ahmadi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shahrukh Alam, Adv. Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR Ms. Warisha Farasat, Adv. Mr. M Shaz Khan, Adv. Mr. Gayatri Singh Dahiya, Adv. Mr. Bilal Khan, Adv. Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General

Mr. K M Nataraj, A.S.G.

Mr. Kanu Agarwal, Adv.

Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv.

Mr. Mayank Pandey, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Nakul Chengappa K.K., Adv. Ms. Akriti A. Manubarwala, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Satwik Misra, Adv. Mr. Adit Jayeshbhai Shah, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Swami, Adv. M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. P Venkat Reddy, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Tyagi, Adv. Mr. P Srinivas Reddy, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. K.M.Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma B, Adv. Mr. A.K. Kaul, Adv. Mr. Nakul Chengappa K.K., Adv. Ms. Akriti A. Manubarwala, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. K.m. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Kannu Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Mayank Pandey, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Varun Chug, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Ashok, AOR Mr. Jatinder Kumar Sethi, D.A.G. Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Sharma, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Akash Giri, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Rahul Bhatia, AOR

Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv. Ms. Pallavi Barua, Adv. Ms. Sakshi Upadhyaya, Adv. Ms. Aparna Singh, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Shankar Jain, AOR Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha, Adv. Ms. Pratibha Sinha, Adv. Ms. Baby Devi Bonia, Adv. Ms. Sudha Pal, Adv. Ms. Mansa Singh, Adv. Mr. Mudit Kaul, Adv. Mr. Abhishek, AOR Mr. C. R. Jayasukin, Adv. Mr. Rahul Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ravi Sharma, AOR Mr. Arvind Datar, Sr. Adv. Ms. Nisha Bhambani, Adv. Mr. Rajat Arora, Adv. Mr. Rahul Unnikrishnan, Adv. Ms. Moriya Shahab, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Mr. Jatinder Kumar Sethi, D.A.G. Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Sharma, Adv. Ms. Ambika Atrey, Adv. Mr. Akash Giri, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Hegde, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anas Tanwir, Adv. Ms. Masoom Raj Singh, Adv. Ms. Avinashi K. Bedi, Adv. Mr. Mrigank Prabhakar, AOR Mr. Vishnu Shankar Jain, AOR Mr. J Sai Deepak, Adv. Mr. Suvidutt M.s., AOR Ms. Somlagna Biswas, Adv. Mr. Rishesh Sikarwar, Adv. Mr. Aman Kullar, Adv. Ms. Renu Yadav, Adv. Mr. Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv. Mr. Abraham C Mathews, Adv. Ms. Thulasi K Raj, Adv.

5

Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Mohammed Sadique T.A., AOR Mr. Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv. Ms. Thulasi K Raj, Adv. Ms. Anu K. Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Ms. Geetha Duddupudi, Adv. Mr. Upendra Pratap Singh, AOR Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR Ms. Warishia Farasat, Adv. Mr. Shourya Dasgupta, Adv. Mr. Aman Naqvi, Adv. Ms. Hrishika Jain, Adv. Ms. Mreganka Kukreja, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Mrs. Eliza Bar, Adv. Mr. Gautam Bhati, Adv. Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR Ms. Masoom Raj Singh, Adv. Ms. Sonali Suryavanshi, Adv. Mr. Raghav Gupta, Adv. Mr. Shahrukh Ali, Adv. Ms. Liz Mathew, AOR Ms. Shahrukh Alam, Adv. Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, AOR Mr. M Shaz Khan, Adv. Ms. Gayatri Dahiya, Adv. Mr. Bilal Khan, Adv. Mr. Ilin Saraswat, Adv. Ms. Swati Jain, Adv. Ms. Ilma Saifi, Adv. Ms. Divya, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Yadav, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Yadav, AOR

Mr. Atul Kumar, Adv. Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. V. D. Khanna, Sr. Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dewivedi, Adv. Ms. Shweta Sand, Adv. Mr. Ravish Kumar Goyal, Adv. Mr. Nitin Sharma, Adv. Mr. Narendra Pal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Vinod Kumar, Adv. Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR Mr. Mehmood Umar Faruqui, AOR Mr. Harsh Kaushik, AOR Mr. Aaditya Vijay Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shreya Shree Singh, Adv. Mr. Chitranshul A. Sinha, AOR Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR Mr. Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv. Mr. Abraham C Mathews, Adv. Ms. Thulasi K Raj, Adv. Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Rajshri Dubey, Adv. Mr. Amit P. Shahi, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. Mr. H. B. Dubey, Adv. Mr. Pratik R. Bombarde, AOR Mr. Reepak Kansal, Adv. Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Satwik Misra, Adv. Mr. Adit Jayeshbhai Shah, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Swami, Adv. Mr. Devendra Singh, AOR

Ms. Laksha Bhavnani, Adv. Mr. Pranshu Kaushal, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Kannu Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rajat Nair, Adv. Mr. Mayank Pandey, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv. Mr. Varun Chug, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sushal Tiwari, Adv. Ms. Sansriti Pathak, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

I.A. No. 6913/2023 in W.P.(C) No. 940/2022 I.A. No. 176937/2022 in W.P. (C)No. 940/2022

The interlocutory applications for impleadment are allowed.

Issue notice.

Petitioner will serve the standing counsel also.

Additional Respondents shall ensure that immediately as and when any speech or any action takes place which attracts offences such as Sections 153A, 153B and 295A and 505 of the IPC etc., suo moto action will be taken to register cases even if no complaint is forthcoming and proceed against the offenders in accordance with law. Additional Respondents will therefore issue direction(s) to their subordinates so that appropriate action in law will be taken at the earliest.

We make it clear that any hesitation to act in accordance with this direction will be viewed as contempt of this Court and appropriate action will be taken against the erring officers.

We further make it clear that such action will be taken irrespective of the religion that the maker of the speech or the person who commit such act belongs to, so that the secular character of Bharat as is envisaged by the Preamble, is preserved and protected.

W.P.(C) No. 80/2022

Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 will file status report indicating the progress made as it stands today.

This is to be done within a period of two weeks from today.

It is submitted by Shri Gopal Sankaranarayanan, learned senior counsel, that a chart has been prepared pursuant to order dated 21.07.2022 and that has been handed over to the learned Additional Solicitor General. He prays that the States may put in their response.

Copies of the chart so prepared shall be served on all the States in these cases.

The States will put in their response to the chart within a period of three weeks.

Shri K. M. Nataraj, learned Additional Solicitor General, would submit that Union of India is pondering over steps to be taken to deal with the problems which are the subject matter of the cases before this Court including legislation which may tackle the same.

I.A. No. 9313/2022 in W.P. (C)No. 24/2022 is permitted to be withdrawn with liberty to file fresh I.A. with reference to instances of some recent vintage.

9

States will also make their position clear as regards the broader issues which have been projected in these cases.

Mr. Sanjay Hegde, learned senior counsel, may prepare draft formulations/suggestions in regard to the issues which are at stake.

List the matters on 15th February, 2023.

W.P. (Crl.) No. 391/2021

List the matter on 30th January, 2023. The State shall be ready with the case diary.

(NIDHI AHUJA) (RENU KAPOOR) AR-cum-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR