The Allahabad High Court has granted interim protection from arrest to the editor of the news portal Scroll.in and its journalist Supriya Sharma in connection with the case in which they have been accused of misrepresenting the living condition of a Dalit woman in Varanasi during the lockdown and thereby causing her humiliation.
The story featured Domari village, which has been adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Lok Sabha constituency.
FIR to stay
The court, however, said since the allegations against the journalists disclose commission of cognizable offence, their prayer to get the FIR against them quashed cannot be accepted.
A Division Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Anil Kumar said the petitioners shall not be arrested in the case till submission of the police report under Section 173 (2) the CrPC, provided they co-operate in the investigation.
The court took into consideration the submission made by the petitioners that they possessed photographs and audio recordings of the interview with the Dalit woman and that the publication was a true representation of what was stated in the interview.
The story was published in “public interest” to highlight the condition of certain persons, the counsel for the journalists added.
Under SC/ST Act
Delhi-based Ms. Sharma was booked in under various charges including the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act in Varanasi for allegedly misreporting about the poverty of the Dalit woman.
The FIR was related to a piece published in Scroll.in on June 8 titled “In Varanasi village adopted by Prime Minister Modi, people went hungry during the lockdown”.
In an order dated August 25, the court said all the “aforesaid aspects need to be ascertained on the basis of material collected during the course of investigation and therefore, at this stage, it would not be appropriate for us to express any opinion as regards the merits of the allegations”.
The court directed the petitioners to provide the audio recording of the interview to the investigation agency if it asked for it.
