Two months after his arrest, journalist Prashant Kanojia gets bail

The Lucknow High Court today granted bail to journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on August 18.

Kanojia's wife Jagisha Arora confirmed the news on Twitter.

Kanojia, a freelance Bahujan journalist, had been arrested for allegedly posting a morphed image on social media. An FIR had been registered against him on August 17, stating that he had tried to “harm the image” of one Sushil Tiwari of the Hindu Army.

Kanojia's arrest had been widely criticised.

This is the second time that Kanojia has been arrested for a social media post. Last year, he was arrested for a tweet that allegedly “defamed” Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court, which slammed the Adityanath regime for jailing him, but chose not to comment about the nature of the journalist’s tweets.

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