NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the interim protection from arrest of three Editors Guild members booked by Manipur police for allegedly stoking ethnic enmity by their fact-finding report, but declined to quash the FIRs against them.
A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra passed the order after a hearing marked by a claim by the journalists that they had visited Manipur at the instance of the Army which was upset with the coverage of the ethnic conflict in local media. “Why would Army invite EGI to come to Manipur for fact-finding?” asked the CJI when the journalists’ counsel, Kapil Sibal, argued for quashing of the FIRs against his clients saying they had only responded to the Army’s request.
The bench asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to ascertain Manipur government’s views on its suggestion to ask the journalists to move Delhi HC with a plea for quashing of the FIR as they were unwilling to approach Manipur HC for the purpose.
SG: Report on Manipur bid to turn crisis into national row
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Monday argued against permitting three Editors Guild of India members, who have been booked by Manipur police, from moving the Delhi HC with their plea for quashing the FIRs.
Mehta said the SC had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to some other people, but asked them to move Manipur HC, which was open and functioning. “It will create a wrong precedent if the petitioners are given the relief of moving Delhi HC instead of the jurisdictional HC in Imphal and the SC may find itself flooded with petitions seeking similar relief in many other cases,” he said.
The SG said he would get back with the state’s response on Friday but alleged that the report was engineered to convert the ethnic crisis into a national political controversy. Rebutting the state’s assertion, Sibal, counsel for petitioners Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan as also the EGI, said the journalists went on the Army’s invite to examine allegations of biased and unethical reporting in the vernacular media.
As per the submissions in court, on July 12, Col Anurag Pandey of 3 Corps headquarters at Rangapahar, Nagaland, wrote to Seema Mustafa, president of EGI, about partisan reporting by media outlets in Imphal valley and accused them of “indulging in outright misrepresentation of facts that violate all norms of journalistic ethics” and said it could be a major contributor to instigation of further violence. It requested EGI to examine a few media reports annexed to its letter and take appropriate action.
Although it is the Press Council of India and not the EGI which is supposed to be the grievance redressal agency in such cases, the EGI within two days, on July 14, issued a statement expressing “great concern” over the media coverage of Manipur violence by a section of media and stated, “There is a noticeable bias in the coverage that is contributing to divisiveness and violence”.
More than three weeks later, the EGI issued a statement on August 7 saying it was sending three journalists on a three-day fact-finding mission after receiving several representations, including from the Indian Army, about biased reporting. Its report was severely criticised by the Editors Guild of Manipur as biased and based on one-sided briefings.
A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra passed the order after a hearing marked by a claim by the journalists that they had visited Manipur at the instance of the Army which was upset with the coverage of the ethnic conflict in local media. “Why would Army invite EGI to come to Manipur for fact-finding?” asked the CJI when the journalists’ counsel, Kapil Sibal, argued for quashing of the FIRs against his clients saying they had only responded to the Army’s request.
The bench asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to ascertain Manipur government’s views on its suggestion to ask the journalists to move Delhi HC with a plea for quashing of the FIR as they were unwilling to approach Manipur HC for the purpose.
SG: Report on Manipur bid to turn crisis into national row
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta on Monday argued against permitting three Editors Guild of India members, who have been booked by Manipur police, from moving the Delhi HC with their plea for quashing the FIRs.
Mehta said the SC had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to some other people, but asked them to move Manipur HC, which was open and functioning. “It will create a wrong precedent if the petitioners are given the relief of moving Delhi HC instead of the jurisdictional HC in Imphal and the SC may find itself flooded with petitions seeking similar relief in many other cases,” he said.
The SG said he would get back with the state’s response on Friday but alleged that the report was engineered to convert the ethnic crisis into a national political controversy. Rebutting the state’s assertion, Sibal, counsel for petitioners Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor and Bharat Bhushan as also the EGI, said the journalists went on the Army’s invite to examine allegations of biased and unethical reporting in the vernacular media.
As per the submissions in court, on July 12, Col Anurag Pandey of 3 Corps headquarters at Rangapahar, Nagaland, wrote to Seema Mustafa, president of EGI, about partisan reporting by media outlets in Imphal valley and accused them of “indulging in outright misrepresentation of facts that violate all norms of journalistic ethics” and said it could be a major contributor to instigation of further violence. It requested EGI to examine a few media reports annexed to its letter and take appropriate action.
Although it is the Press Council of India and not the EGI which is supposed to be the grievance redressal agency in such cases, the EGI within two days, on July 14, issued a statement expressing “great concern” over the media coverage of Manipur violence by a section of media and stated, “There is a noticeable bias in the coverage that is contributing to divisiveness and violence”.
More than three weeks later, the EGI issued a statement on August 7 saying it was sending three journalists on a three-day fact-finding mission after receiving several representations, including from the Indian Army, about biased reporting. Its report was severely criticised by the Editors Guild of Manipur as biased and based on one-sided briefings.