Rohit Ranjan vs. Union Of India

1

ITEM NO.43 COURT NO.3 SECTION X

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition (Criminal) No.271/2022

RAJNISH AHUJA Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)

(With IA No.96128/2022-EX-PARTE AD-INTERIM RELIEF and IA No.96130/2022-EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T.)

Date : 05-08-2022 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA

For Petitioner(s)	Mr.Siddharth Dave, Sr. Adv.
	Mr. Utsav Trivedi, Adv.
	Mr. Abhinay, AOR
	Ms. Shivali Bhushan, Adv.
	Mr. Himanshu Sachdeva, Adv.
	Ms. Manini Roy, Adv.
	Ms. Unnati Vijay, Adv.
	Mr. Pooran Chand Roy, Adv.
	Ms. Aarushi Singh, Adv.

For Respondent(s)

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

1 Multiple FIRs have been filed against the petitioner arising out of the telecast of a show on Zee News called DNA on 1 July 2022. The petitioner is the editor

of the Zee News channel. There is a recital in the pleadings that on 2 July 2022, the channel had retracted the news segment and apologized both during the course of a morning show and at night. In spite of this FIRs are being filed in different States. On 2 July 2022, FIR No 153 has been registered at PS Banipark, District Jaipur (West), Rajasthan. On 3 July 2022, FIR No 415

2 Apart from the above two FIRs, it has been stated by Mr Siddharth Dave, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner that another FIR, being FIR No 320/2022 dated 3 July 2022 was registered at PS Shrimadhopur, Sikar, Rajasthan.

has been registered at PS Civil Lines, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

• 3 Issue notice.
• 4 Tag with Writ Petition (Criminal) No 257 of 2022.
• 5 The news anchor has been protected by an order of this Court dated 8 July 2022 in Writ Petition (Crl) No 257 of 2022.
• 6 We issue the following ad-interim directions:
  • (i) The investigation in respect of FIR No 153 registered on 2 July 2022 at PS Banipark, District Jaipur (West), Rajasthan may continue.
  • (ii) There shall be a stay of further proceedings in pursuance of FIR No 415 registered at PS Civil Lines, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh on 3 July 2022 and in respect of all other FIRs dealing with the same subject matter; and
  • (iii) No coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner on the basis of FIR No 153 dated 2 July 2022, registered at PS Banipark, Jaipur (West); FIR No 415 dated 3 July 2022 registered at PS Civil Lines, District Raipur and in respect of all other FIRs filed or which may be filed in future in

respect of the same subject matter.

7 Liberty to serve the Standing Counsel for the States of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, in addition.

(CHETAN KUMAR) (RAM SUBHAG) A.R.-cum-P.S. Court Master