SC declines to quash FIR against journalist Abhisar Sharma, grants interim protection

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain journalist Abhisar Sharma’s plea seeking to quash an FIR lodged by the Assam police over a video in which he accused the state government of indulging in “communal politics” and questioned its land allotment decisions, LiveLaw reported. 

While declining to interfere with the FIR, the court granted Sharma interim protection from coercive action for four weeks, allowing him time to approach the Gauhati High Court for relief.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh reportedly also issued notice on Sharma’s separate challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), under which he has been booked, and tagged it with a similar pending case. Sharma has been charged under Sections 152 (endangering sovereignty of the nation), 196 (promoting enmity between groups), and 197 (imputations prejudicial to national integration and security) of the BNS, 2023.

According to LiveLaw, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sharma, argued that Section 152 has become an “omnibus” provision that is being misused. He urged the court to intervene, pointing out that it had granted protection in a similar case involving The Wire editors Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar. 

The FIR was registered on the complaint of Alok Baruah, who alleged that Sharma’s remarks were provocative and fostered distrust against state authorities. Newslaundry had earlier reported on the complainant.

Earlier this month, the court granted interim protection from arrest to Varadarajan and Thapar in a case registered by Assam police under the same provision.

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