JUDGMENT

Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J.

Writ Petition (Crl) No 130 of 2020

1. The petitioner is the Editor-in-Chief of an English television news channel, Republic TV. He is also the Managing Director of ARG Outlier Media Asianet News Private Limited which owns and operates a Hindi television news channel by the name of R Bharat. The petitioner anchors news shows on both channels.

2. On 16 April 2020, a broadcast took place on Republic TV. This was followed by a broadcast on R Bharat on 21 April 2020. These broadcasts led to the lodging of multiple First Information Reports ["FIRs"

] and criminal complaints against the petitioner. They have been lodged in the States of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Jharkhand as well as in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir. In the State of Maharashtra, an FIR was lodged at Police Station Sadar, District Nagpur City. The details of this FIR are:

"Maharashtra

FIR No. 238 of 2020, dated 22 April 2020, registered at Police Station Sadar, District Nagpur City, Maharashtra, under Sections 153, 153-A, 153-B.295-A, 298, 500, 504(2), 506, 120-B and 117 of the Indian Penal Code 1860."

Apart from the above FIR, as many a