SC stays arrest of journalist who reported on alleged theft of Ram temple donations

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest to journalist Abhishek Upadhyay, who was among the first to report about the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, in a case filed against him by the Uttar Pradesh Police, reported Bar and Bench.

On August 18, a first information report was registered against Upadhyay in connection with an alleged road rage incident in Ghaziabad. The journalist has claimed that the case, which invokes provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, was filed to harass him for his reports on alleged corruption in Uttar Pradesh.

Upadhyay moved the Supreme Court challenging the case against him and demanding that a copy of the FIR be supplied to him.

His lawyer, Pradeep Rai, told the court on Tuesday that Upadhyay’s “unpardonable sin” was that he had reported on the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple, Live Law reported. He said that his client had reported about corruption in other cases as well.

Rai demanded that an independent agency should investigate the case against Upadhyay.

The advocate claimed that the allegation of road rage was baseless and that closed-circuit television footage from the site would prove this, Live Law reported. He demanded that the footage from the area be preserved.

Chief Justice Surya Kant...

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