[Viral video threatening Karnataka High Court judges] Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking quashing or transfer of FIRs

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice in a plea seeking quashing or transfer of the First Information Reports (FIRs) filed in two States pertaining to the viral video threatening the Judges of the Karnataka High Court who delivered the Hijab Verdict.

A bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Bela M Trivedi issued notice in the plea filed by the accused Rahamathulla.

Rahamathulla, an auditing committee member of the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, allegedly can be seen threatening the Karnataka High Court judges who delivered the Hijab Verdict in a 4 minutes viral video while addressing a small gathering of the general public at Goripalyam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu. 

The FIR filed against the accused stated that "gist of the complaint is that on this day at 10.22 hours morning her colleague Umapathi, Advocate, has sent 4 minutes WhatsApp video, which was in the Tamil language. In that video, the person has threatened the Hon'ble High Court Judges ·with respect to Hijab Judgment pronounced by the High Court and he also abused them in filthy language and promoted enmity between different groups, and caused disturbance of public peace and tranquility and hence, you are requested to take suitable action against the said person etc."

However, with regard to various FIRs filed against the accused in different States, Rahamathulla's plea stated that "the Petitioner would be put to tremendous hardship and it would be impossible for the petitioner to approach various courts/police stations in two different states in respect of such FIRs."

Rahamathulla, relying on the Judgment in the case of TT Antony v State of Kerala, stated that "it is a trite principle of law that a second FIR is not maintainable on the basis of the same set of facts. This Hon'ble Court has reiterated this principle of law in a catena of cases."

Case Title: Rahamathulla Vs The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors