NE NOW NEWS: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that no coercive steps should be taken against two lawyers and one journalist, who were booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) by the Tripura police over their social media posts.
The top court issued notice on a petition filed by two lawyers and a journalist challenging an FIR registered by the Tripura Police, LiveLaw reported.
A bench comprising the Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justice Surya Kant passed the order, while hearing a writ petition filed by lawyers Mukesh and Ansarul Haq Ansar as well as journalist Shyam Meera Singh.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that the two lawyers had visited Tripura and published a fact-finding report about the communal violence, after which the Tripura Police had issued a notice asking them to appear for interrogation in relation to the FIR under the UAPA.
The CJI noted that he read some news reports that two journalists were granted bail with regard to the Tripura matter, which Bhushan clarified were two others and not the petitioners, who had not yet been arrested, reported LiveLaw.
The bench then ordered a notice to be issued on the petition and said that no coercive steps should be taken against the petitioners.
The petitioners have also challenged the constitutional validity of Section 2(1)(o)(which defines “unlawful activity), Section 13(punishment for unlawful activity) and 43D(5) (restrictions on grant of bail) of the UAPA.
