On June 23, the Supreme Court passed an interim order staying the arrest of Wajahat Khan in FIRs lodged in states other than West Bengal for allegedly hurting religious sentiments over social media posts.

A bench of Justices KV Vishwanathan and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice on the writ petition of Wajahat Khan seeking clubbing of FIRs lodged in Assam, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana in respect of the same allegations.

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On July 14, the bench made the notice returnable and directed, "No coercive action shall be taken against the petitioner in respect of the FIRs lodged in other states or any FIRs that may be lodged in future on the same issue."

Wajahat Khan had earlier filed a complaint that led to the arrest of social media influencer and law student Sharmistha Panoli. After that, multiple FIRs were filed against Wajahat Khan. According to the submissions, Wajahat Khan has already been arrested in two FIRs filed in West Bengal - one by the Golf Links Police Station in Kolkata and the other where he is in judicial custody.

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Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Wajahat Khan, argued that the FIRs filed across India following his complaint against Panoli were vindictive in nature.

"One reaps what one sows", admitted Dama Seshadri Naidu, clarifying that though he did not endorse the tweets, the petitioner had already deleted them and publicly apologised.

However, Justice Vishwanathan said that the tweets in question were not annexed to the petition. Naidu responded that they had been deleted even before the FIRs were filed and reiterated the petitioner's apology.

Justice Vishwanathan said, "These tweets clearly do not fall under the protection of freedom of expression. All this is hate-mongering."

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Dama Seshadri Naidu informed the court that the petitioner was receiving online threats and he only wanted to consolidate all the FIRs at one place for the purpose of investigation. He said Khan was ready to cooperate with the authorities.

Justice Vishwanathan cited a Tamil proverb and said, "Hate speech will take us nowhere: wounds caused by fire may heal, but wounds caused by words cannot."

Recall, Panoli was arrested by the Kolkata Police from Gurugram based on Khan's complaint for creating religiously objectionable content in the wake of India's Operation Sindoor. He was later granted interim bail by the Calcutta High Court.

Wajahat Khan, reportedly the co-founder of the Rashidi Foundation, is now facing multiple FIRs for allegedly making objectionable remarks targeting Hindu deities and festivals, raising concerns over communal harmony.

Case Title: WAZAHAT KHAN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 247/2025