Allahabad High Court Quashes FIR Against The Wire’ Editor Siddharth Vardarajan,Reporter Ismat Ara
(Judicial Quest News Network)
Allahabad High Court on Wednesday quashed a First Information Report (FIR) registered against the founding Editor of the Wire, Siddharth Varadarajan and its reporter Ismat Ara in connection with their reportage on the death of a protester during the farmer’s protests in Delhi [Siddharth Vardarajan and another Vs State of UP].
The FIR was lodged over a report in the news portal “The Wire “Under section 153B (Imputations assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 502(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity between classes) for tweets of the report on Navreet SinghDibdibiya (farm law protestor who died during the protest in Delhi) and alleging that they misled the public.
The case was argued on behal of petitioners by Advocates – Mehul Khare,Pragya Pandey.
The Bench of Justices Ashwini Kumar Mishra and Rajnish Kumar quashed the FIR, reasoning that the allegations did not disclose the commission of offences under section 153B and 502(2) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Court observed that “The allegations made in the FIR does not disclose the commissioning of any offence under Section 153-B and 505 (2) IPC. The petitioners had only published the 3 statement of the parents of the deceased and the contradictions of the doctors was also published / uploaded at the earliest after it’s release. Therefore even if the same was not deleted it does not constitute any offence. There was no threat of riots and in fact there was no violence or riot on account of the alleged publication. She had further submitted that the fair criticism is permissible under law. She had also submitted that the grandfather of the deceased has moved the Delhi High Court praying for a Court monitored probe into the death of his grandson, where the High Court has issued the notices and the Delhi High Court is monitoring the investigation. Therefore the FIR is nothing but an abuse of process of law and curtailment of right to freedom of speech. Therefore the impugned FIR is not sustainable in the eyes of law and liable to be quashed”
The Bench did not find any opinion or assertion in the news item which cloud has the effect of provoking or inciting the people.
“Nothing was also brought before this court to indicate that there was any disturbance or riot which may have any bearing on public disorder on account of the publication of news/ tweet of the petitioners. “The order stated.
Reliance is placed on Supreme Court’s decision in Patricia Mukhim Vs. State of Meghalaya and Others; 2021 SCC Online SC 258, where it was Meghalaya and Others; 2021 SSC Online SC 258, where it was held that only where the written or spoken words have the tendency or creating public disorder or disturbance of law and order or affecting public tranquillity, the law needs to step in the prevent such an activity.
In February last year, the Uttar Pradesh Police filed an FIR against the Wire’s founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan for a tweet shared the news report written by Ara, published by the wire on January 30. A day later, it added The Wire and Ara’s name to the FIR.
The article- ‘Autopsy Doctor Told Me He’d Seen the Bullet Injury But Can Do Nothing as His Hands are Tired’— shared claims made by the family of Navreet Singh who was killed during the tractor parade in the national capital on January 26, 2021.
Singh’s family had refused to accept Delhi police’s claim that he died because his tractor overturned and insisted he had been shot. Farmers who had said they were witness to the incident near ITO had originally claimed the same.
The report also contains the response of the police and hospital administration.
“The Wire” initially moved the Supreme Court for the quashing of three FIRs filed by the UP Police over three different stories in Rampur,Barabanki, and Ghaziabad, arguing that this amounted to a concerted attack on the freedom of the press. The wire withdrew its petition when the court said the high court should first be moved separately.
The Wire was represented before Allahabad High Court by its standing counsel senior advocates Nitya Ramakrishnan.
It may be noted that the Supreme Court had, in September 2021, asked ‘The Wire’ and three of its reporters to approach the High Court for quashing the FIR Registered against them over news reports published/written by them ( including the instant article tweeted by Siddharth Vardarajan and Ara).
It may be noted that Allahabad High Court, while granting them the protection from coercive action, also took into account the September 8, 2021 order of the Supreme Court in which two months of protection was granted to the “ The Wire” and three of its reporters from three FIRs registered against them by the Uttar Pradesh Police over some of the reports published by the portal.
The Apex Court asked them to approach the High Court for quashing the FIRs.
“We are aware of the fundamental rights and don’t want freedom of press to be muzzled”, the presiding judge Justice L. Nageshwar Rao Had said, while adding that the journalists should have approached the High Court first than coming to the Supreme Court directly.
