The Supreme Court on Monday granted protection to Professor Kham Khan Suan Hausing from coercive actions in two criminal cases against him in Manipur for two weeks.
The bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra passed the order.
According to Live Law, senior Advocate Anand Grover, appearing for Prof Hausing, requested that his client be granted similar protection as Deeksha Dwivedi, the advocate against whom an FIR was registered by the Manipur police after she took part in a fact-finding mission regarding Manipur violence. It may be noted that Dwivedi was granted interim protection from arrest to enable her to approach the High Court.
The charges against Hausing were filed by Manihar Moirangthem Singh, a member of the Meitei Tribe Union, who alleged that the professor made statements to defame the Meitei community, leading to heightened communal enmity, Live Law said.
Professor Kham Khan Suan Hausing, who serves as the Head of the Department for Political Science at the University of Hyderabad, found himself in legal trouble after he was issued a summons notice by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal East, on July 6, 2023.
He stands accused of defaming the Metei community during an interview with journalist Karan Thapar on The Wire.
As a result, he is facing charges under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, or language), 200 (knowingly declaring something false), 295(A) (deliberate actsto outrage religious feeling), 298 (verbally outraging religious feelings), 505(1), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, Live Law noted.