Supreme Court Bars Coercive Action Against The Wire Editor in Assam Police FIR Under S 152 BNS

The Supreme Court has restrained Assam Police from taking coercive action against The Wire’s founding editor, Siddharth Varadarajan, in an FIR under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The FIR arose from a June 29 report on the Indian defence attaché’s comments that political constraints cost the IAF fighter jets during Operation Sindoor.

The Court issued notice to the Union and Assam, tagged this petition with a pending challenge to Section 152, and allowed the petitioners to cooperate with the investigation.

The petition argues that Section 152 mirrors the old sedition law, chills free speech and targets the media.

[Foundation for Independent Journalism v UOI]