SC stays arrest of Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai over multiple FIRs

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the arrest of Shashi Tharoor MP, journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod K Jose, Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Anant Nath and Paresh Nath over multiple FIRs registered against them over their tweets/reports about a farmer’s death during tractor rally.

Multiple FIRs have been registered against them alleging sedition, creation of communal disharmony etc in States of UP and MP.

One First Information Report (FIR) was filed in Noida and four FIRs in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, Hosangabad, Multai and Betul. The FIR in Noida was filed on a complaint by a resident of the city near Delhi, who alleged “digital broadcasts” and “social media posts” by Mr Tharoor and the journalists, who



claimed that a farmer had been shot dead by the Delhi Police, contributed to the siege of the Red Fort and violence during the tractor rally.

In the First Information Report filed in Delhi on a complaint by city resident Chiranjiv Kumar, the police said Mr Tharoor and the others misled people on the death of a protester in central Delhi’s ITO when thousands of farmers entered areas in the national capital, including the Red Fort, that were not in the agreed route of the tractor rally.

The FIR stated that the accused, through their “fake, misleading and wrong” tweets, tried to imply that the death of the farmer was caused by the violence committed by Delhi Police under directions of the Central government.