A bench led by justice Uday Umesh Lalit directed Himachal Pradesh police to file a status report in a sealed cover within a week in an ongoing investigation against Journalist Vinod Dua on charges on sedition. The journalist has been facing FIRs from multiple states- West Bengal and Maharashtra being the recent ones.
Here are five components of the story:
- The FIR was registered against Dua in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. He was summoned by the Shimla police in connection with a sedition charge levelled against him by Ajay Shyam- a local Bhartiya Janta Party leader.
- Justice Uday Umesh Lalit took a note of the questionnaire that Dua was made to answer by the authorities.
- The bench does not want Dua to answer the supplementary questionnaire sent to him by the police.
- “If we are satisfied that the contention raised by the petitioner is correct, we will squash the FIR straight away,” the bench confirmed orally, posting the matter to July 15.
- Senior Advocate Vikas Singh argued on behalf of the journalist and mentioned that his client was being harassed for exercising his constitutional right of Freedom of Speech.