No Coercive Steps Against Rohit Ranjan While SC Hears Case on Multiple FIRs

Vacation bench issues notice in plea filed by Zee News anchor, grants interim relief after brief hearing.

Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan was arrested by Noida Police in Ghaziabad and later granted bail.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Rohit Ranjan)

The Supreme Court on Friday, 8 July issued notice in the plea filed by Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan regarding the multiple FIRs filed against him for playing an edited video during his show that falsely appeared to show Congress Rahul Gandhi defending the killers of a tailor in Udaipur.

While the court hears the matter, it has ordered that no coercive action (such as arrest) should be taken against Ranjan by any of the police authorities which have filed criminal cases against him.

At present, FIRs have been filed against Ranjan by police in Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Jaipur (Rajasthan).

On 5 July, Chhattisgarh Police officials tried to arrest Ranjan from his residence in Indirapuram, in connection with the case filed by them over his broadcast of the misleading video.

An hour after the Chhattisgarh police arrived at his doorstep (5:30 am, as per PTI), and Ranjan tagged Uttar Pradesh Police and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in a tweet questioning the legality of the arrest, the local Ghaziabad Police showed up.

A couple of hours later (8 am), the Noida Police came, and seemingly after some argument between the police teams, the Noida Police arrested Ranjan in their case regarding the video, which was on lesser charges.

He was granted bail by a local court the same day.

Ranjan approached the Supreme Court asking for relief against the multiple FIRs filed against him, relying on the apex court's TT Antony judgment from 2001 which says that multiple FIRs regarding the same set of facts amount to an abuse of police powers.

The top court held in that case that the very concept of an FIR – a First Information Report – meant that there could be no second FIR with regard to the same cognizable offence.

This is because the investigation is supposed to cover not just the alleged cognizable offence reported in the FIR, but any other possible offences that arise from the same set of facts.

The vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari issued notice on Ranjan's request after a brief hearing where senior advocate Sidharth Luthra raised the TT Antony argument.

Ranjan cannot be taken into custody by any police forces till the time the court hears the matter next – no date for listing was specified by the bench.