EVERY JOURNALIST ENTITLED TO PROTECTION FROM SEDITION, SAYS SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a sedition case against veteran scribe Vinod Dua for his alleged comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Youtube show last year, saying a 1962 verdict entitles every journalist to protection.

A bench comprising justices UU Lalit and Vineet Saran, however, declined the prayer of Dua that no FIR should be registered against any media personnel with 10 years’ experience unless cleared by a committee, saying it would amount to an encroachment into the domain of the executive.

On the issue of protection of freedom of speech and expression of media personnel, it said, “Every journalist is entitled to protection under the Kedar Nath Singh judgment (the famous verdict of 1962 on the scope and ambit of offence of sedition in the IPC).”