Fake news case: Supreme Court seeks response from Centre, TN, Bihar on plea by YouTuber Manish Kashyap to club FIRs

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Central government and the States of Bihar and Tamil Nadu on a plea by Youtuber Manish Kashyap seeking consolidation of First Information Reports (FIR) registered against him in the two States for allegedly sharing fake news about migrant workers in Tamil Nadu. .A bench of Justices Krishna Murari and Sanjay Karol asked the response of the governments after hearing the parties and listed the case for further hearing on April 21."Learned Counsel accepts notice on behalf of state of Bihar. Let Union of India be served through central agency. Let reply be filed within a week," the Court ordered. .The plea filed by Kashyap sought clubbing of FIRs against him in Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Kashyap also sought interim anticipatory bail.He is currently in custody of the Tamil Nadu Police in connection with sharing of a fake video regarding the alleged attack on migrant workers from Bihar in Tamil Nadu.The police had taken him for questioning earlier after getting a remand order from a Madurai court..During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave appearing for Kashyap, stated that he was facing five prosecutions in two states. "Tamil Nadu lodged two FIRs... and the Bihar one bail was denied.. one offence cannot give rise to multiple proceedings and it was held so in Arnab Goswami case," the senior counsel submitted. Hence, he sought a direction for the FIR in Bihar to be treated as the lead case."Let there be hands off approach in other FIRs... I am being taken to Tamil Nadu where I do not even understand the language," Dave said..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu said that the fake news resulted in deaths and was not a small matter. "Let us file a reply. He is already detained under NSA. The URL is different and offences are different," he added. The senior counsel then asked the Court to allow the State two weeks' time for filing reply. .Kashyap's counsel opposed the same, stating that it was too long as he was being harassed everyday."2 weeks is too much.. I am being harassed everyday.. to pursue my bail in Bihar.. I will be incarcerated in Tamil Nadu... How can NSA be invoked.. This is astounding..".On the basis of these submissions, the Court issued notice and agreed to hear the case next week. .Kashyap was represented by Advocates Aditya Singh Deshwal, Ridam Arora and Ananta Prasad Mishra..[Read our live-coverage of the hearing below]