In an order of relief, the Supreme Court swept aside the West Bengal government’s objections to club all existing and future FIRs against Nupur Sharma for her alleged blasphemous statement against the Prophet and ordered that all FIRs must be investigated by a special cell of the Delhi Police.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala, which had earlier tuned down Nupur's plea for relief, reiterated its conviction about serious threat to life and liberty faced by her from instances narrated by her counsel Maninder Singh and said that it would be very difficult for her to travel to the states concerned to approach the high court for quashing of the FIRs lodged there. It also protected her from arrest in any of the FIRs.
The West Bengal government opposed clubbing of FIRs and demanded that its police be allowed to probe the FIRs lodged in the state which witnessed maximum number of violent incidents because of Nupur’s alleged blasphemous statement. For the state, senior advocate Menka Guruswamy said, “We will give whatever security she needs (when she goes to WB to join the investigation).” She then suggested a joint SIT of WB and Delhi Police and then a court- appointed SIT for probing the clubbed FIRs against Nupur. She pleaded with the court to supervise such SIT probe as the bench said that it could direct the Delhi Police Commissioner to set up an SIT. Justice Kant said, “Monitoring of SIT probe by an HC or SC, I believe, puts undue and undesirable pressure on the investigating team. Probe agencies should have complete independence and a dispassionate atmosphere for investigation.
