NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments to respond to a plea by Manish Kashyap, a YouTuber, for clubbing of the multiple FIRs lodged against him for allegedly circulating fake videos of attacks on Hindi speaking migrant labourers in Tamil Nadu.
A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and Sanjay Karol issued notice to the Centre, Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments on a writ petition filed by Kashyap.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Siddharth Dave submitted that his client is facing five prosecutions in two states.
He relied upon the SC's judgement in journalist Arnab Goswamis case, to contend that one offence cannot give rise to multiple cases.
He asked the court to direct that the FIR in Bihar, should become the lead FIR and all other cases should be transferred over there.
During the hearing, Justice Karol said that on a lighter note, even I am a migrant from Bihar. Justice Murari added that this statement speaks a lot now.
Dave, on other hand, submitted that his client has been taken to Tamil Nadu, where he could not understand the language and there should be a hands-off approach in other FIRs.
The bench said no coercive action should be taken against the petitioner in other cases as it was pointed out that he had already been arrested.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Tamil Nadu, said it is not a simple matter and Kashyap has already been detained under the National Security Act. Sibal sought time to file a reply in the matter.
Following the brief hearing, the bench sought a response from the Centre, the Tamil Nadu and the Bihar governments within a week and fixed the matter for further hearing on April 21.
Kashyap has been remanded to judicial custody by a Madurai court.
