The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Chhattisgarh government's response on a plea by Delhi University Professor Nandini Sundar seeking the removal of her name and those of five others from a FIR in an alleged murder case.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur, S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta also directed the state government to explain what it had done for the past two years when the FIR was registered in 2016, and what it intended to do now.
The apex court has given the Chhattisgarh government three weeks to file its reply.
"You can't let an FIR hanging on somebody," Justice Lokur said.
While issuing notice to the state government, Justice Lokur said that the names could be removed from the FIR (First Information Report) only after quashing it.
Senior counsel Ashok Desai, appearing for Sundar, said that they wanted the removal of their names as every time she and others travelled abroad, they have to mention if there is a case pending against them.
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On November 15, 2016, the top court had directed the Chhattisgarh government to give Sundar a four-week notice if it wanted to act in the case.
At that time the Chhattisgarh government had told the top court that it will neither arrest nor interrogate Sundar.
The court was also told that the other accused named in the FIR too would neither be arrested nor interrogated.
The court had on November 15, 2016 said that Sunder can approach the court as and when she is given a notice that the Chhattisgarh government intended to proceed against her in pursuance of the FIR.
--IANS
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