On Sunday, A 3-Judge Bench of the Apex Court will hear an urgent plea made by Padma Shri award Senior Journalist Vinod Dua to quash a “bogus” FIR registered by the Himachal Pradesh Police accusing him of sedition.
Justices U.U. Lalit, Mohan M. Shantanagoudar & Vineet Saran will hear the plea at 11 a.m. through virtual proceedings.
The Himachal Pradesh Police had appeared at Mr. Dua’s residence on June 12 & ordered him to be present at the Kumarsain Police Station, at least a 20-hour drive from Delhi, at 10 a.m. the next day (June 13).
June 12 was the day when the High Court of Delhi stayed an earlier “bald & frivolous” FIR registered by the Delhi police against Mr. Dua for his telecast comments on the northeast Delhi riots & the COVID-19 pandemic. The Himachal Pradesh police made their presence known to Mr. Dua shortly after the HC’s stay order.
The Senior Journalist said that “It is rather astonishing since the police station is 20 hours away from Delhi & they were here in 12 hours”.
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His appeals to the Himachal Pradesh Police to join the probe through emails or online were met with silence. Mr. Dua also expressed apprehensions about travelling during the pandemic as he had co-morbidities.
In his letter to the Apex Court, pleading for an urgent hearing, Mr Dua, represented by Senior Lawyer Vikas Singh & Lawyer Nitin Saluja, pointed out that Himachal Pradesh has institutional quarantine for fifteen days for people coming from the red zones. The police insisted on his appearance knowing well that Delhi was categorised as a red zone & he would not be able to be present in the police station at the designated time.
Mr Dua said that “There is a recent trend against the media where State governments that do not find a particular telecast to be in sync with their political ideologies register FIRs against persons of the media primarily to harass them & to intimidate them so that they succumb to the line of the State or else face the music at the hands of the police”.
Mr. Dua also sought a direction that no FIR be registered against journalists with at least ten years of standing unless cleared by a committee constituted by the State Govts.
This committee should comprise the Chief Justice of the HC concerned or a judge designated by the Chief Justice, the Leader of the Opposition & the State Home Minister, the plea said.
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