Didn’t volunteer to visit Manipur, invited by Army, Editors Guild tells Supreme Court

Editors Guild, some of whose members are facing FIR over a report on coverage of Manipur clashes, tells Supreme Court that they went to Manipur at the request of the Army. @IndianExpress

— Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) September 11, 2023

The bench also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra, however, wondered why would the Army make such a request.

“But why will the Army tell the Editors Guild to come to Manipur…,” queried the CJI.

“Because they wanted an objective assessment of what’s happening there on the ground,” responded Sibal.

“…and therefore request an examination of the above reports be conducted to ascertain whether the guidelines for journalists and media houses have been violated by these media houses which appears to be one-sided and appropriate action taken accordingly,” the CJI read out the letter.

Sibal said, “We are not concerned with what action, we are only concerned with (what happened) pursuant to this. That’s how we went in.”

The senior counsel added, “Once we give a report, there can’t be offences under the Penal Code on that basis. See the kind of offences we are being prosecuted for… how can these offences stand?”

Sibal urged the Court to allow the Guild to prosecute the matter before the Delhi High Court and not the Manipur High Court where lawyers were withdrawing from cases and the house of a lawyer was burnt.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the request.

“The High Court and its benches are functioning regularly and litigants and lawyers are given the option to appear through video conferencing also on a daily basis. It is also submitted that writ petitions cannot be filed merely to avail interim relief,” Mehta said, adding that the petitioners can go to the Manipur High Court and argue virtually.

Sibal, however, asked “Why should we be prosecuted on this basis,” and said, “The report was filed on September 2, on September 3 night, the FIR is registered and on September 4, Chief Minister makes a statement… why would he make a statement…?”

Countering him, the SG said, “If we want to make it political at a national level, we can. The HC can deal with it… The intention appears to be to make it a national issue.”

The CJI said, “We are not going to quash it here. The only question which we are deliberating is whether we should ask them to go to Manipur or transfer it to the Delhi HC and let them pursue their remedies here.”

The solicitor general said he would take instructions and get back to the Court. He added that “in every FIR, something would come and thereafter Your Lordships will not be able to differentiate virtually counsel are appearing.”

The CJI said, “It’s a report after all. The basic thing which he is arguing is they have done a report. That may be a subjective opinion, but can that be really a subject matter… This is not one of those cases where someone was on the ground, committed an offence… you may make a guarded statement that without any concession in any other future case, that there is no objection to this being transferred to…”

Posting the matter for further hearing on September 15, the Court said the interim protection granted to the petitioners from arrest will continue in the meantime.