The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Court: Serious injury to democracy if press is not allowed to operate independently
Abhinav Saha
Statingthatitwouldcauseseriousinjurytothefoundationsof democracy if the press is not allowedtooperateindependently, adelhicourtwednesdayrejected a plea moved by the Delhi Police against an order to release electronicdevicesseizedfromtheeditors of The Wire during searches conductedinoctoberlastyear.
The devices were seized afteranfirforforgery, defamation and criminal conspiracy was lodged against them by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya.
The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Singh Rajawat noted that the investigating agency, by continuous seizureofelectronicdevices, impinged upon the fundamental right of the news portal. “The Press is considered the Fourth Pillar of our great Democracy and if it is not allowed to functionandoperateindependently, it would cause serious injury to the foundations of our Democracy,” noted the court.
The court upheld the previous order which was passed in Septemberdirectingtherelease of the seized devices.
It was argued by police that the earlier order passed by a Delhi court was illegal and that the magistrate had not “correctly” understoodsection76of theitact. Policefurthersubmitted that the devices were required for further investigation and, if released, the accused could tamper with them.
The Wire argued that mirror images of the electronic devices had already been taken which were exact copies of the actual devicesand, therefore, theseized deviceswerenolongerrequired for investigation.
Thecourtrejectedthepolice’s arguments, stating that Section 76 of the IT Act is applicable only aftertheconclusionoftrial. Citing various provisions of the CRPC, thecourtheldthatithadpowers to“makeordersasitthinksfitfor the proper custody of property produced before it” during any trial. It further cited, relying on otherjudgments, thatthepower ofthecourtremainswhentheinvestigation hasn’t concluded.
The court of Chief Metropolitanmagistratesiddharthamalik hadearlierinseptemberordered thereleaseofelectronicdevicesof The Wire’s editorial team, noting that the devices had been in possessionofthepoliceforalongtime andthattherewerenoreasonable groundstoholdontothem.
The devices of Siddharth Varadarajan, MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, Jahnavi Sen, and Mithun Kadambi were seized by police whileinvestigatinganfirfiledby Malviya alleging damage to his reputation following The Wire’s claim that Malviya had special powerstoorderthetakedownof postsoninstagram.