Case Against Editors Guild Members: Journalists Entitled To Views, Says SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has extended the interim protection from arrest to four members of Editors Guild of India vis-à-vis the FIRs registered against them for publishing a fact-finding report on Manipur violence.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said on Friday that prima facie, no offences were made out against the journalists and asked why the FIRs against the four journalists should not be quashed, reported India Today.

“Journalists are entitled to put forth a viewpoint… just show us how these offences (mentioned in the FIRs) are made out. This is just a report. You have implicated sections which are not made out,” the top court observed while extending protection from arrest to the quartet for two more weeks.

The Editors Guild had sent a four-member fact-finding team to Manipur to examine media reports in the state.

The team released a 24-page fact-finding report on Manipur violence on September 2, stating that the media’s reports on ethnic violence in the north-eastern state were one-sided and accused the state government of being partisan.

The Manipur government reacted by filing an FIR against the president and three members of Editors Guild, accusing them of trying to create more clashes in the violence-hit state.

The FIR has accused the Editors Guild members of offences under IPC provisions, including promoting enmity between different groups.