SC protects AAP MP Sanjay Singh in hate speech case in UP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh in a case where summons were issued against him by an Uttar Pradesh court for his alleged hate speech made in August last year.

However, the court told him, "You are an MP so you should be careful in what you are speaking". It also said that he cannot divide people based on caste and religion lines.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on his writ petition for clubbing of multiple FIRs.

Singh approached the top court for quashing the summons and clubbing of a number of FIRs lodged against him in various districts of Uttar Pradesh after his press conference in August last year, where he claimed that the people of the state feel "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, I am a political person," he said.

He submitted that since the petitioner is a Rajya Sabha member, sanction for prosecution should have been given by Rajya Sabha chairman.

The trial court issued summons against him taking cognisance of a charge sheet in the case lodged in police station Hazratganj at Lucknow, on the basis of sanction granted by the Governor under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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 that the UP government can approach Chairman of Rajya Sabha for sanction for prosecution.

The court decided to consider the matter in the third week of March, saying that looking into the nature of the issue being raised, the matter needs to be decided finally on the next date.