Supreme Court Stays Coercive Action Against 'The Wire' Editor & Karan Thapar In Assam Police FIR Under S.152 BNS

The Supreme Court today granted interim protection from arrest to online news portal-The Wire's Founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan and Consulting Editor-Karan Thapar in an FIR registered by Assam police under Section 152 of the BNS.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the order after taking up the matter following a mentioning by Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan. She submitted that after the Supreme Court granted interim protection to the petitioners in one FIR of the Assam Police, a summons was issued to them in another FIR.

The Court ordered :

"Post the matter on 15 September. Meanwhile, no coercive action shall be taken against petitioner No.2 (Varadarajan) and members of petitioner-Foundation, including the Consulting Editor (Karan Thapar), pursuant to FIR registered u/s 152 BNS subject to their joining and cooperating with investigation."

To recap, Assam police (Morigaon PS) initially invoked Section 152 of the BNS against Varadarajan and others on July 11. This case was registered with respect to the article “IAF Lost Fighter Jets to Pak Because of Political Leadership's Constraints': Indian Defence Attache" published by The Wire in relation to Operation Sindoor.

Aggrieved by the same, the Foundation for Independent Journalism (the Trust owning 'The Wire') and Varadarajan approached the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of Section 152 BNS on the ground that it was a re-branded version of the sedition law. In the petition, it was claimed that the news article contained a factual report of a seminar organized by a university in Indonesia and statements made by India's defense personnel, including India's military attache to Indonesia, on the military tactics employed during Operation Sindoor. It was further pointed out that the article carried the Indian Embassy's response to the Defense Attache's comments and that the comments of the Attache were reported by several other media houses as well.

On August 12, the Court issued notice to the Union Government and granted interim relief to the members of the Foundation and Varadarajan, thereby protecting them from coercive action in the FIR registered by Morigoan Police. The same day however, Guwahati's Crime Branch issued summons to Varadarajan, as well as Karan Thapar (a senior journalist at The Wire), in connection with another case.

These cases lodges by Assam police have drawn strong criticism from press bodies, Members of Parliament and the general public. It is claimed that they amount to stifling of press freedom and harassment of The Wire's editors/journalists.

Case Title: FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(Crl.) No. 316/2025

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