Meghalaya Court Orders Police to Combine TMC Leader Hate Speech Cases

Shillong: The Meghalaya High Court ordered state police to consolidate five criminal cases against TMC leader and former MLA S G Esmatur Mominin. These cases involve alleged hate speeches during the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections. The court ruling aims to streamline the legal process. Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere issued the order after Mominin filed four petitions.

Mominin initially asked the court to quash the cases. He later changed his request to have all subsequent FIRs combined with the first one filed at Araimile Police Station. West Garo Hills police lodged the complaints at the Araimile and Phulbari stations. The charges invoke the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order Act.

The court found the complaints rely on the same cause of action. "The complaints arose out of the same set of allegations and constituted a single cause of action," the order stated. Investigators must now treat the five files as one lead case. With the consolidation order, the judge disposed of all four of Mominin's petitions.