FIR on Operation Sindoor article, SC grants Siddharth Varadarajan protection from arrest

The Supreme Court has granted protection from arrest to the Wire’s founding editor Siddarth Varadarajan in an FIR lodged against him under section 152 of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita in Assam, LiveLaw reported.

The case was lodged by the Morigaon police on July 11 after an article headlined “‘IAF Lost Fighter Jets to Pak Because of Political Leadership’s Constraints’: Indian Defence Attache”.

A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the interim order in a writ petition filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism  – the trust owning The Wire – and Varadarajan, challenging the constitutionality of section 152 of the BNS. The petitioners contended the law was a repackaged version of the colonial sedition law. The bench issued a notice to the centre and tagged the writ petition with another plea which also questioned the validity of the provision.

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the provision was vague and broadly-worded, and created a “chilling effect” on expression, particularly affecting the right of the media to report and raise questions at the government.

However the bench asked if the potential for abuse can be a ground to strike down a provision.

SG Tushar Mehta reportedly asked if the media should be treated as a separate class. Justice Bagchi then said, “That’s not what is being sought. It’s about balancing the fundamental right to free speech with protection of public order."

Justice Kant observed that when the offence is with respect to articles published by a news outlet, custodial interrogation may not be necessary. "Basically these are matters where you don’t require custodial interrogation,” he said, according to LiveLaw.

The petitioners stated in the petition that the news article was a factual report of a seminar organised by a university in Indonesia and statements made by India’s defence personnel on the military tactics employed during Operation Sindoor. They also pointed out that the article carried the Indian Embassy’s response to the Defence Attache’s comments. It was also pointed out that comments of the Attache were reported by several other media houses as well.

They contended that the registration of the FIR was “an abuse of the process of law” and a bid to muzzle press freedom.

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