The Supreme Court on
Monday refused to entertain a plea of jailed Bihar YouTuber Manish Kashyap
against whom the stringent National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked for
allegedly circulating fake videos of migrant labourers being attacked in Tamil
Nadu.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and
justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, however, granted Kashyap the liberty
to challenge the invocation of the NSA at an appropriate judicial forum.
It also rejected the plea for clubbing all 19 FIRs
against him and their transfer to Bihar.
We are not inclined to entertain the plea, the bench
said while rejecting the vehement submissions of senior advocate Maninder
Singh, appearing for Kashyap who is presently lodged in Madurai jail of Tamil
Nadu.
Earlier, the top court had granted time to the Tamil
Nadu government, represented by lawyer Amit Anand Tiwari, to respond to the
amended plea of Kashyap against whom the stringent NSA was invoked for
allegedly circulating the videos.
The arrested Youtuber faces several FIRs and out of
them, three have been lodged in Bihar.
The
top court had on April 11 issued notice to the Centre, the Tamil Nadu and Bihar
governments on Kashyap's plea seeking clubbing of the FIRs lodged against him
and their transfer to his native state.