‘Killing the messenger’: HC stays FIR against journalist who reported school’s ‘poor condition’

The Allahabad High Court stayed a first information report registered against a journalist for reporting the alleged poor infrastructure at a government school in Lucknow, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.

In its order passed on Tuesday, the court observed that the state’s action appeared to be an “ego issue” and a retaliatory move amounting to “killing the messenger”.

A bench of Justices Abdul Moin and Pramod Kumar Srivastava noted that the government was legally obligated under the Right to Education Act, 2009, to ensure compliance with prescribed standards in schools, the newspaper reported.

It said that the authorities should have addressed the deficiencies pointed out by the journalist and worked towards rectifying them, rather than viewing his report as an “ego issue” and registering an FIR against him.

The court was hearing a petition filed by journalist Amit Yadav challenging the FIR registered against him on August 24 at Gosaiganj police station in Lucknow under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The petition said that Yadav had visited Purva Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Gosaiganj on August 20 as part of his work as a reporter. He claimed in his report that the school was poorly maintained, with dirty toilets and no drinking water, among other problems.

An case was later filed against him, claiming that the...

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