Supreme Court to hear plea challenging journalist Kanojia's arrest

Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a plea challenging the arrest of journalist Prashant Kanojia in connection with an alleged defamatory post on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. A vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi agreed to hear the plea moved by Kanojia's wife Jigisha.

Senior lawyer Nitya Ramakrishnan, who appeared for the petitioner, submitted that the UP Police did not follow the due procedure of law while arresting the journalist. Kanojia was arrested on Saturday for making certain "objectionable comments" against Adityanath on social media and for "spreading rumours". He was taken into custody from Delhi after a case was registered at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow.

"The arrest was made on the basis of evidence and after interrogation, he confessed to his crime," a press note issued by the police said. Kanojia has been booked under sections 500 (defamation), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code and section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.On Sunday, the Editors Guild of India had condemned the arrest of Kanojia, Eshika Singh, head of Noida-based new channel Nation Live and Anuj Shukla, an editor of the channel, in connection with the case.

Uttar Pradesh Police had arrested a man for making certain 'objectionable comments' against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media and for 'spreading rumours'. The case is registered at Hazratganj Police Station Lucknow. "The arrest was made on the basis of evidence and after strict interrogation, he confessed to his crime," said a press note from the Lucknow Police. He is booked under IPC section 500 (defamation), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), and section 67 of Information Technology Act (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form). The accused is identified as Prashant Kanojia, who lives in Delhi and had allegedly uploaded a video on Twitter in which a woman is heard making some claims about Adityanath. Kanojia had posted a comment with the video, that says "Ishq Chupta Nahi Chupane se Yogi ji".

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