New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said that the interim order of no coercive action against Amish Devgan will continue till the court hears the matter next. The court was hearing Journalist Amish Devgan’s petition seeking stay and quashing of FIRs against him, lodged on account of derogatory words used to describe Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.
A three-judge bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, made the observation after it decided to hear the matter in the week commencing from September 21 as another case was being heard today.
The Supreme Court on June 26 had stayed probe in all FIRs registered against Amish Devgan for his alleged derogatory remarks against revered Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti commonly known as Hazrat Khwaja Ghareeb Nawaz.
The bench while issuing notice had directed that no coercive action to be taken against Devgan till the next date of hearing. The Court had again on July 8 extended its interim order and had given the anchor a two-week breather.
Amish Devgan had made the comment during a debate on a PIL about the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act on his show ‘Aar Par’. As per reports he had called Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, also known as Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz, an “attacker” and a “lootera”.
The plea filed by Amish Devgn through Advocate Vivek Jain seeks quashing of the FIRs which have been registered against him under the following sections of the Indian Penal Code:
· Section 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs),
· Section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony),
- Section 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief), and
- Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention)
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On June 17, the News Anchor had apologized for hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslims. He wrote “In 1 of my debates, I inadvertently referred to ‘Khilji’ as Chishti. I sincerely apologise for this grave error and the anguish it may have caused to followers of the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti, whom I revere. I have in the past sought blessings at his dargah. I regret this error”.
-India Legal Bureau