The Supreme Court (SC) on the 9th of February, put a stay on the arrest of Indian National Congress (INC) leader Shashi Tharoor and six other senior journalists while hearing a petition.
The petition challenged the police registration of multiple FIRs against them for allegedly sharing certain unconfirmed news on the death of a protester at Twitter and other social media platforms during the tractor rally on Republic Day.
The SC bench headed by the Chief Justice of India S.A.Bobde and comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian issued notices and asked the Central Government and others to file their responses on the petitions filed by Mr. Tharoor and the journalists.
The bench said, “Nothing is going to happen. Where is the danger?” It further added, “We will hear you after two weeks and stay the arrest in the meanwhile.”
A senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Tharoor, said that no coercive action be taken against the petitioners in the meantime.
A tractor overturned during the farmers’ rally, killing one protester who had returned from Australia only a while ago to celebrate his wedding. The booked journalists and Tharoor were misinformed that the police shot at the protester.
The police later released footage showing the tractor overturning.
By the 30th of January, five states had filed FIRs against Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists over tweets on farmers’ tractor day parade violence, with Delhi being the latest one to take police action against them.
The Madhya Pradesh Police had also filed a report against Tharoor and the six journalists over their alleged ”misleading” tweets on the violence.
The initial FIR was filed by the Noida Police for alleged sedition, among other charges, over the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, officials had said.
The next hearing regarding the case is yet to be announced.
Stay tuned for further updates.
