The Crime Branch in Guwahati has issued a summons to The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan in a first information report pertaining to an article on Operation Sindoor.

The summons, issued on August 12, came even as the Supreme Court granted Varadarajan and members of the foundation running the news outlet protection from arrest in another FIR filed by the Assam Police.

Ankur Jain, the joint commissioner of police in Guwahati, told Scroll that the summons had been issued as the Supreme Court order had come in relation to a case filed in “some other district”.

In the latest notice, Varadarajan has been directed to appear before the investigating officer at the Crime Branch Police Station in Panbazar on August 22 at 11.30 am.

The earlier case against Varadarajan was registered at Morigaon police station on July 11 under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.

It followed the publication of an article about Operation Sindoor titled “‘IAF Lost Fighter Jets to Pak Because of Political Leadership’s Constraints’: Indian Defence Attache”.

The fresh summons issued to Varadarajan cites the same charges, in addition to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups, publishing false or misleading information and criminal conspiracy.

On August 12, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi had granted Varadarajan protection from arrest while hearing a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The petition was filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which owns The Wire, and Varadarajan.

The petitioners argued that the law was a repackaged version of the colonial sedition law. The bench issued a notice to the Union government and tagged the plea with another petition challenging the validity of the provision.

Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the news article was a factual report of a seminar organised by a university in Indonesia and statements made by an Indian defence attaché on the military tactics used during Operation Sindoor.

She added that the article also carried the Indian embassy’s response to the defence attaché’s remarks, which had also been reported by several other news outlets.

In May 2022, the Supreme Court had ordered proceedings and criminal prosecutions for sedition under Section 124A of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code to be kept in abeyance.

Critics have argued in the Supreme Court, in a separate matter, that Section 124A was slipped into the law again in the guise of Section 152 when the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the Indian Penal Code in July 2024.

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