The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash FIRs lodged in various states against News18 Hindi TV channel's anchor Amish Devgan for his alleged defamatory remarks against Ajmer's Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti during a programme on June 18, though he had apologised for his mix-up in attacking the late revered saint respected by both Muslims and Hindus.
The Bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna, which had reserved its ruling on September 25, however, transferred all pending FIRs in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana to Ajmer in a judgment pronounced on Monday.
It also held that the protection to Devgan from any coercive action extended by it on June 26 will continue so long as he cooperates with the probe.
The anchor had apologised in a tweet that he was actually referring to the Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji and ended up by mistake naming the saint for which he was very sorry; also, he respects the saint and will never abuse him. He wanted the court to quash all FIRs filed against him for his genuine error and stop the investigations.
