New Delhi. The Supreme Court has quashed the FIR lodged by a local BJP leader in Himachal Pradesh on sedition charges against journalist Vinod Dua for his YouTube program. The Supreme Court said that the 1962 order protects every journalist from such allegations. Based on a complaint by a BJP leader, Vinod Dua was charged with sedition in Himachal Pradesh for his show on the Delhi riots last year. He was accused of spreading fake news, public nuisance, publishing defamatory material.
Dismissing the case, the Supreme Court rejected
Dua's request that no FIR be lodged against any journalist with 10 years of experience unless cleared by a panel headed by a High Court judge
Justice UU Lalit and Justice Vineet Saran said that this would be an encroachment on the jurisdiction of the legislature. But the Supreme Court, citing an important previous judgment, said that every journalist is protected from such allegations. "Every journalist shall be entitled to protection under Kedar Nath Singh's decision on sedition," the bench said. In the judgment of the Supreme Court in 1962, it has been said that the use of strong words against any change or change made by the government is not sedition.The top court had earlier said that Dua is not required to answer any further supplementary question asked by the Himachal Pradesh Police in connection with the matter. BJP leader Shyam had lodged an FIR against Dua under various sections of the Indian Penal Code in May last year at the Kumarsain police station in Shimla district fraudulently and the journalist was asked to join the investigation. Shyam had alleged that Dua had made some allegations against the Prime Minister in his YouTube program.
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