Criminal cases must not be filed against journalists merely because their writings are perceived as criticism of the government, the Supreme Court said on Friday.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti made the remarks while granting interim protection to journalist Abhishek Upadhyay in a case filed against him for a social media post about the alleged caste dynamics in appointments to the Uttar Pradesh administration, Bar and Bench reported.
In its order on Friday, the bench said that a journalist’s rights were protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution pertaining to free speech.
“In democratic nations, freedom to express one’s views are respected,” the order said. “Merely because writings of a journalist are perceived as criticism of the Government, criminal cases should not be slapped against the writer.”
The court also sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on the petition filed by Upadhyay. It posted the matter for further hearing in four weeks.
After Upadhyay’s post on September 19 questioning the apparent caste bias in state government appointments, a first information report was filed against him a day later for uttering hate speech, making statements against national integration, hurting religious feelings and defamation, among others.
The Lucknow-based journalist was booked on a complaint filed by a man named Pankaj Kumar, according to Bar and Bench.
In his petition seeking the quashing of the case, Upadhyay claimed that Kumar’s complaint had called Chief Minister Adityanath an “incarnation of god”. The journalist added that he had been receiving threats over his post.
Upadhyay said that the case against him was an attempt to “misuse” the law enforcement machinery of the state to “silence his voice”, according to PTI.
“The petitioner is continuously getting threats on social media,” the petition said. “That it is respectfully submitted that threats are continuing, including arrest, bodily injury or even encounter killing in the hands of UP [Uttar Pradesh] police in the matter.”
The petition said that when Upadhyay reported the threats in a post on X, tagging the director general of police, he also received threats of legal action from the official handle of the Uttar Pradesh Police.
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