The Supreme Court will hold a special sitting on Sunday to hear a petition filed by journalist Vinod Dua who has approached the apex court seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him by the Himachal Pradesh Police. The FIR is regarding a video uploaded by Dua on March 30 on the online video streaming platform, YouTube, which criticises the union government for its implementation of the national lockdown.
Besides seeking the quashing of FIR, Dua has also asked the top court to issue a direction that FIRs against mediapersons with at least 10 years’ of experience should not be registered unless cleared by a committee constituted by every state government comprising the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court or a judge designated by him, the leader of the opposition and the home minister of the state.
“State governments who do not find a particular telecast to be in sync with their political ideologies register FIRs against persons of the media to harass and intimidate them so that they succumb to the line of the state or else face the music,” the petition stated.