SC Refuses To Stay Sedition FIR Against Journalist Vinod Dua, Gives Him Protection From Arrest Until Next Hearing

The Supreme Court today (14 June) held a special Sunday sitting and refused to stay the FIR slapped on journalist Vinod Dua by Shimla Police charging him with sedition and asking him to appear before them to assist the investigation, reports Live Law.

The top court's bench decreed that the direction issued by Shimla Police under Section 160 of the CrPC shall stand as it is and that Shimla Police shall give Dua a 24-hour notice before they would want to interrogate him.

Asking the state government for a status report, the Court has directed the police that it can interrogate Dua at his residence, however, it should not arrest him until the next hearing of the case which has been scheduled for 6 July.

The charge of sedition was levelled on Dua on the basis of an FIR filed by a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajay Shyam over a YouTube show run by Dua which allegedly was spreading fake news on the communal violence in Delhi in February. Shyam has complained in the FIR that Dua had “instigated violence” against the central government and Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi by spreading “misinformation”.

When Dua's legal representative Vikas Singh asserted in the court that the complainant Shyam was a "puppet in the hands" of the ruling party, the bench chastised him and impressed, "Don't you such adjectives. They are not required."