SC protects Editors Guild from arrest in Manipur FIRs over fact-finding report

The Supreme Court on Wednesday protected the Editors Guild of India and three of its journalists from arrest in two criminal cases lodged against them in Manipur following the release of a fact-finding report on the ethnic violence in the state that accused the local media to be biased and the government to be partisan during the conflict.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday protected the Editors Guild of India and three of its journalists from arrest in two criminal cases lodged against them in Manipur following the release of a fact-finding report on the ethnic violence in the state that accused the local media to be biased and the government to be partisan during the conflict.

Taking up the matter on an urgent mentioning by the journalists’ body, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud agreed to take up the petition on Monday and directed a copy of the petition to be supplied to the Manipur government for taking instructions. The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, further directed, “In the meantime, no coercive steps shall be taken in connection with the two FIRs registered against the petitioners.”

Senior advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the president of the Editors Guild, claiming that a situation of “very grave urgency” has arisen following the release of the fact-finding report published by it on September 2. A day later, two FIRs were lodged at Imphal and Porompat police stations by social activists who alleged that the report sought to create a false, misleading narrative aimed at promoting enmity and stoking communal tensions in the state, besides insulting the Meitei community.