SC protects senior journalists of 'The Wire' from arrest by Assam Police

The Supreme Court on Friday protected from arrest The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and consulting editor Karan Thapar in connection with an FIR registered by Assam Police against them over a news article.

A bench of Justices Suryakant and Joymalya Bagchi said everyone was expected to follow the law and asked the journalists to join the investigation and file a status report on the next date of hearing.

The judges passed the order on a plea filed by Varadarajan and the Foundation for Independent Journalism (FIJ), which owns The Wire.

Senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, appearing for the journalists, said that the FIR in question dates back to May and was invoked soon after the Supreme Court granted her clients protection in the other case.

She argued that Assam Police was circumventing the orders passed by the court and appears inclined to initiate successive FIRs, creating a genuine apprehension of arrest.

When she said there could be further FIRs and threat of arrest, the bench said, "We are watching."

It may be recalled that on 12 August, the apex court protected Vardarajan and restrained Assam Police from taking any coercive action against him in connection with an FIR lodged against him over an article on Operation Sindoor.

On 9 May, the first FIR was registered by the Guwahati Crime Branch against Varadarajan and Thapar under Section 152 (acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Meanwhile, the Guwahati police on Thursday registered an FIR against another journalist and YouTuber Abhisar Sharma over a video in which he allegedly ridiculed the Assam and Union governments, a senior official said. The FIR invokes Sections 152 (sedition), 196 and 197 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS).

"Sharma also mocked the principle of Ram Rajya and claimed that the government survives only on Hindu-Muslim polarisation," according to the complainant Alok Baruah, a 23-year-old resident of Nayanpur.