The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and consulting editor Karan Thapar in a case registered by the Assam Police in connection with news articles on Operation Sindoor, reported Live Law.

The case was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 152, which replaced the old sedition law. The section pertains to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the petitioners to join and cooperate with the investigation and posted the matter for September 15, reported Bar and Bench.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan told the bench that Varadarajan had been issued a fresh summons in another case despite the court granting him protection from arrest in another FIR filed by the Assam Police.

The first case against the journalists was registered on July 11 at Morigaon police station, following the publication of an article on Operation Sindoor titled “‘IAF Lost Fighter Jets to Pak Because of Political Leadership’s Constraints’: Indian Defence Attache”.

On August 12, the Supreme Court bench had already granted the petitioners protection from arrest while hearing a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The fresh summons issued on the same day cited the same charges under Section 152, in addition to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups, publishing false or misleading information and criminal conspiracy.

Ramakrishnan had earlier argued before the court that the news article published by The Wire 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 had added that the article also carried the Indian embassy’s response to the defence attaché’s remarks, which had 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.

Press bodies criticise sedition charges in the case

The Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps have criticised the Assam Police for filing a sedition case against Varadarajan and Thapar.

The associations have said that the first information report registered against Varadarajan, the founding editor of the news portal, and Thapar were vindictive actions by the police.

The press bodies demanded that the cases against the two journalists be immediately withdrawn.

They also demanded the withdrawal of the “draconian” Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita invoked in the matter, which they said threatens freedom of expression under Article 19(1)a of the Constitution.

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