New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the State of Maharashtra to file a counter affidavit to object to the issue of whether the multiple FIRs issued against Islamic preacher Zakir Naik for hate speech can be clubbed together.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay Oka, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Augustine George Masih was hearing the writ petitions filed by Zakir Naik seeking to club multiple FIRs registered against him in Karnataka and Maharashtra for making hate speeches under section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which is an act of promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.
The Court posted the matter to be heard on next Wednesday.
Appearing for the State of Maharashtra, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that Naik has been declared a fugitive by court order, so he cannot seek the remedy under Article 32 of the Constitution.
Mehta raised an objection regarding the maintainability of Naik’s petition and said, “Though our reply is ready.
Justice Oka said, “You are saying that you are raising objections regarding maintainability. Raise that objection by filing a counter. We will look into it”.
Mehta said, “Our preliminary contention is that a person who has been declared a fugitive by the Court of law, can he maintain Article 32 petition?”
The bench inquired about the status of the cases filed against Naik.
Senior Advocate Aditya Sondhi appearing for Naik said there are 43 cases.
The SG mentioned that he was under the impression that Naik was withdrawing the petition.
While Sondhi said that he had no such instructions regarding the withdrawal, he further said, “if the court granted liberty, Naik might approach the concerned High Courts for quashing instead of troubling the Supreme Court, as six FIRs remain pending—four in Maharashtra and two in Karnataka.”
Justice Oka said, “We will keep it for hearing on Next Wednesday. We just wanted to know what is the status, whether final reports are filed or not.”
Mehta informed the Court that a stay had been granted on the proceedings in 2013 and that an affidavit was ready, but had not been filed due to the defects in the petition.
The SG said that since Naik has a fugitive status, he is not authorised to give any instructions.
Mehta pointed out that the petition is defective as per the registry, and there are objections such as the absence of the petitioner’s signature.
He urged the court to instruct Naik to remove the defects from his petition first.
However, the Court made it clear, “We are not waiving any objection. Hundreds of cases we hear are in the defective category. We grant relief also,” the bench said.
The SG also requested the Court to seek an affidavit from Naik on whether he intends to withdraw the petition.
Zakir Naik has been under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for several years.
He has been charged under Section 153A of the IPC for promoting enmity between different religious groups and under Sections 10, 13, and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
A special NIA court in Mumbai issued a non-bailable warrant against Naik in 2017.
Naik failed to appear before the Mumbai court and is reportedly living in Malaysia.
In 2022, the Central Government declared Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) as an unlawful association under the UAPA.
A one-member tribunal, headed by Justice DN Patel, confirmed the ban in March 2022, citing that IRF’s activities were prejudicial to the sovereignty, unity, and security of India.
