Discuss the constitutional basis and rationale behind the Supreme Court's power to club FIRs registered in different States for the same incident.

When a single incident triggers FIRs in several States, the accused faces parallel investigations on identical facts. The Supreme Court's recent notice to the Centre, Maharashtra and Haryana on a comedian's plea to club FIRs arising from one Gurugram show illustrates that this relief rests on constitutional, not statutory, foundations [1].

Constitutional basis

• Article 32: the plea travels directly to the Supreme Court as a fundamental rights matter, since no lower forum can merge FIRs registered across State lines [1].
• Article 21: repeated summons, separate bail applications and inter-State travel make the process itself a punishment before guilt is determined.
• Article 142: the power to pass orders for complete justice lets the Court consolidate proceedings where no statute provides a remedy.
• Article 139A and the inherent powers preserved under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 supply the transfer machinery once jurisdiction is assumed [2].

Rationale

• Avoiding multiplicity: the facts investigated are identical — same event, same words, same accused — so a second FIR yields no new evidence, only duplicated coercion [1].
• Protecting liberty in bail: PRS notes that BNSS withdraws mandatory bail where multiple cases are pending and spreads police custody across a 40–60 day window; every additional FIR therefore weakens the accused's bail position [2].
• Federal coordination: online circulation gives cyber-linked offences no territorial boundary, letting several State police forces act independently on one incident [1].
• Calibrated, not absolute: clubbing decides where one prosecution happens; it neither quashes the case nor dilutes Article 19(2) restrictions on speech.

Thus the power is a liberty-protecting corrective to federal fragmentation rather than immunity from prosecution. A settled judicial standard, supplemented by a "one incident, one investigation" provision in the BNSS and a mandatory pre-registration check by State police, would extend to every citizen the protection that today reaches only those who can approach Delhi.