Press bodies criticise sedition charges against Siddharth Varadarajan, Karan Thapar of ‘The Wire’

The Press Club of India and the Indian Women’s Press Corps on Tuesday criticised the Assam Police for filing a sedition case against journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar of The Wire.

The associations said that the first information report registered against Varadarajan, the founding editor of the news portal, and Thapar were vindictive actions by the police.

The press bodies demanded that the cases against the two journalists be immediately withdrawn.

They also demanded the withdrawal of the “draconian” Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita invoked in the matter, which they said threatens freedom of expression under Article 19(1)a of the Constitution.

Section 152 pertains to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.

On August 12, the Assam Police’s Crime Branch in Guwahati issued a summons to Varadarajan in an FIR pertaining to an article about Operation Sindoor published in The Wire.

The summons came even as the Supreme Court, on the same day, had granted Varadarajan and members of the foundation running the news outlet protection from arrest in another FIR filed by the Assam Police.

The Wire received summons for Thapar on Monday, said the news outlet.

Ankur Jain, the joint commissioner of police in Guwahati, told Scroll that the summons had been issued as the Supreme Court order had come in relation to a case filed in “some other district”.

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