Hours after top court order, journalist gets reprieve in Raj case
HT Correspondents
JAIPUR/NEW DELHI: A TV journalist on Wednesday became the first person to get relief in a sedition case, hours after the Supreme Court stayed the registration of FIRS, ongoing probes and coercive measures across the country until an “appropriate forum” of the government re-examined the colonial-era penal law.
The court’s verdict on the contentious law has also prompted the counsel for JNU student Sharjeel Imam, who is in judicial custody since 2020 in another sedition case, to move Delhi high court for his client’s release.
Taking note of the top court’s order, the Rajasthan high court directed the state police not to probe allegations against Network18 journalist Aman Chopra under Section 124A (sedition) of Indian Penal Code in a case over a television show he hosted last month. A bench of justice Dinesh Mehta, however, directed the anchor to appear for questioning before Dungarpur police on Monday from 11 am to 5 pm.
The court, which on Tuesday first stayed Chopra’s arrest in connection with an FIR in Dungarpur district, further extended the stay till May 20.
The HC’S direction to the state police came after Chopra’s counsel, Siddharth Luthra, informed it about the SC verdict.
Three FIRS were registered in Dungarpur, Bundi and Alwar, respectively, against the journalist over a show he hosted on April 22 on the demolition of two temples in Alwar during an anti-encroachment drive and which allegedly resulted in communal disharmony.
The journalist was booked under sections 124-A (sedition), besides other sections of IPC. On Saturday, the HC had granted Chopra interim protection from arrest in the FIRS registered in Bundi and Alwar.
Meanwhile, Imam’s counsel, Tanveer Ahmed Mir, said he will move Delhi HC seeking his client’s release. Imam was booked under the sedition law over his alleged provocative speeches during the protests against the now Citizenship Amendment Bill and National Register of Citizens. He has been in judicial custody since January 28, 2020.
“We will file a fresh plea before Justice Siddharth Mridul, who is already hearing the bail application and the challenge to the framing of charges,” Mir told HT.