Indian Supreme Court says Nupur Sharma won’t be arrested for now

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that “no coercive action” can be taken against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma till the next date of hearing in connection with the complaints filed against her in several states over her anti-Muslim remarks during a television debate show.

The top court also said it never intended the BJP leader to visit every court for relief in the hate speech cases against her. “In the light of the subsequent events, the concern of this Court is how to ensure that the petitioner is able to seek alternate remedy. In order to explore such modality, we issue notice,” said a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala.

On Nupur Sharma’s plea, the bench issued notices to the states where the FIRs and complaints have been filed against her and posted the matter for hearing on August 10. The same bench had on July 1 declined to entertain her plea, saying she has a “loose tongue” and is “single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country”, including in Udaipur where a tailor was hacked to death in June for allegedly sharing her remarks.

“To that extent, we are correcting. We did not intend that you have to go all places,” the bench said on Tuesday. Senior advocate Maninder Singh, who appeared for Sharma, had requested the top court’s permission on July 1 to withdraw the plea instead of having it dismissed. The bench allowed the petition to be withdrawn with liberty to avail alternate remedies.