"Hate Speech Won't...": Top Court On Man Arrested Over Social Media Posts

The Supreme Court on Monday took a strong exception to communal tweets by Wajahat Khan, the complainant in Sharmistha Panoli's case,  who is now himself under arrest over social media posts. The top court said that hate speech won't take us anywhere.

In a relief to Mr Khan, the top court today said that barring the current proceedings in which he is under police custody in West Bengal in two FIRs, no coercive action should be taken against him in FIRs filed in other states.

Mr Khan had recently filed a complaint against social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli over her communal videos on social media on Operation Sindoor. However, he was arrested by Kolkata police after his past communal tweets surfaced.

He approached the Supreme Court seeking quashing or clubbing of FIRs registered against him across 6 states, including Assam, Bengal, Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi. The top court issued notice to 6 states returnable by July 14. These FIRs in other states have been stayed till the next hearing.

The bench also ordered that no coercive action be taken against him on any FIR that may be registered in future over the same allegations.

Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu appeared for the Khan in the top court today. At the outset of the hearing, the bench questioned the counsel over his tweets.

"You have not annexed the tweets? The bench of Justice KV Vishwanathan and NK Singh at the outset questioned the counsel appearing for Wajahat Khan.

"My tweets are deleted and I have posted an apology", his counsel told the court.

Terming these posts as "hate tweets", the top court expressed concern and also quoted a Tamil proverb which roughly translates to "wounds inflicted by fire may heal, but not the wounds inflicted by tongue."

Mr Naidu, appearing for Mr Khan, told the court that FIRs are registered across multiple states; he can't be expected to go to those states. The counsel also read out the apology tweet written by him to "Hindu brothers".

Mr Naidu further argued that the complaints were filed in retaliation for his complaints against social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli, who is out on bail.

FIRs have been filed against Wajahat Khan in several states for inciting religious sentiments and posting hate-mongering material. Wajahat Khan is currently in police custody after being arrested by Kolkata Police on June 10.