The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh in numerous FIRs filed against him in Uttar Pradesh for his alleged hate speech in August, wherein he reportedly accused the state government of favouring a certain class of society.
The court, however, told him, "You are an MP so you should be careful in what you are speaking." The court said he can't divide people along the lines of caste and religion.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy issued a notice asking the Uttar Pradesh government why the FIRs against him should not be clubbed.
Singh approached the top court for quashing of a number of FIRs lodged against him in various districts of Uttar Pradesh after his press conference in August last where he claimed that the people of the state feel that "a specific caste is running the government".
Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for the MP, contended these are identical FIRs in 14 places. "These are due to speeches, Singh is a political person," he said.
He submitted that since the petitioner was a Rajya Sabha member, sanction for prosecution should have been given by the Rajya Sabha chairman.
On this, the bench said, "You should also consider while giving your speech whatever you want to say, you can't divide people on their caste and religion."
The bench also said the UP government can approach Chairman Rajya Sabha for sanction for prosecution.
The court decided to consider the matter again in March, saying that the matter needs to be decided expeditiously based on the nature of the issues being raised.
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