The Supreme Court on Friday restrained various states from taking coercive steps against TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan, who is facing multiple FIRs for playing a distorted clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on July 1.

A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari issued notice to the Centre, through the office of the attorney-general, on Ranjan’s plea seeking quashing of complaints or FIRs relating to the telecast.

The clip was played in such a manner that it created the erroneous impression that Rahul was forgiving the killers of the Udaipur tailor while he was actually referring to the SFI supporters who vandalised his office in Wayanad.

On July 2, a day after the video was aired, Ranjan had apologised, saying it was “a human error”. A police team from the Congress-run Chhattisgarh had tried to arrest Ranjan but the police in BJP-governed Uttar Pradesh had arrested him and released him on bail later.

On Friday, while issuing notice on the plea which has made the Centre, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan as parties, the top court said that the respondent authorities should not take coercive steps against the petitioner to take him into custody.

“Issue notice. Service on the Union of India be effected through the office of the Central Agency,” the bench said. “In the meanwhile, there will be an interim order restraining the respondent-authorities from taking coercive steps against the petitioner to take him into custody in connection with the anchoring/telecast of DNA on July 1, 2022,” the top court said in its order.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Ranjan, told the bench that as of now, three FIRs had been registered at Jaipur, Raipur and Noida.

He said an unintentional error was committed in the programme and the petitioner had apologised.

Luthra said two persons concerned had accepted their fault and had resigned. “Today, my difficulty is the first FIR is in Jaipur, the second FIR is at Raipur in Chhattisgarh,” Luthra said, adding an FIR is also there in Noida.

In his petition, the anchor had sought relief, including the quashing of the FIRs or complaints or their clubbing and transfer to one place. Ranjan had also sought a directive that no coercive action be taken against him for the withdrawn programme.

The petition sought security for the journalist, his family members and his colleagues associated with the programme.

“The present writ petition is being filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, praying for the quashing /clubbing of almost identical criminal complaints. FIRs were filed across the country against the petitioner. The petitioner prays for the stay of coercive action during the pendency of the present petition,” the plea said.

It said Ranjan “anchored /hosted a programme on Zee News on July 1. The news show inadvertently misattributed certain quotes and the error was immediately rectified. An unconditional apology was tendered by the petitioner and Zee News and the news show was withdrawn even prior to the registration or filing of any FIR and complaint”.

Referring to various judgements, it said: “There can be no second FIR and consequently, there can be no fresh investigation in respect of the same cognisable offence or incident giving rise to one or more cognizable offences. Since it is impossible for the petitioner to approach various courts/police stations all over the country in respect of such FIRs/complaints, the present writ petition is being filed under Article 32 against the violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) (freedom of speech and expression) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution,” it said.

Furthermore, the issue was covered under the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Programming Rules against the broadcaster, it said. “Therefore, when there is special law dealing with the issues in question, there was no question to invoke the criminal statute or registration of FIRs,” it said.

In Raipur, senior superintendent of police Prashant Agrawal had told PTI that a case was registered against Ranjan and others at Zee News on Sunday for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people based on a complaint by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav.

The FIR in Raipur was lodged under Indian Penal Code sections, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 467 (forgery), 469 (forgery to harm reputation), 504 (intentional insult).