No coercive action against scribe booked for tweets in UP: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed for no coercive steps against a journalist in connection with four FIRs registered against her in UP.

A Bench of Justices BR Gavai, PK Mishra and KV Viswanathan issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh Government seeking its response on a petition filed by journalist Mamta Tripathi, who sought the FIRs to be quashed.

Tripathi claimed the FIRs were politically motivated and frivolously filed with an attempt to stifle the freedom of press. According to Tripathi, the FIRs were in relation to certain tweets posted by her.

While hearing her plea, the Bench said, “It is directed that no coercive steps be taken against the petitioner (Tripathi) in connection with the subject articles.” The case will be heard after four weeks.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, who appeared for Tripathi, argued that a journalist, Abhishek Upadhyay, had earlier approached the apex court seeking quashing of an FIR against him for a news report on the “caste dynamics of the general administration” in the state.

Dave, referring to the SC order on Upadhyay’s plea, said he was a co-accused in one of these FIRs lodged against Tripathi and on his petition, the top court had earlier in October protected him from any coercive steps.

The top court in Upadhyay’s case said only because writings of a journalist were perceived as a criticism of the government, criminal cases should not be slapped against the writer. It is pure harassment, said Dave, adding the FIRs had been registered against journalists merely for their posts on X. In her plea filed through advocate Amarjit Singh Bedi, Tripathi said the four FIRs were lodged at Ayodhya, Amethi, Barabanki and Lucknow.