The Supreme Court will open its doors on Sunday to hear a petition filed by controversial journalist Vinod Dua seeking quashing of a sedition case filed against him in Himachal Pradesh Police over a YouTube show. In a special hearing, a Supreme Court bench of justices UU Lalit, MM Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran will hold special proceedings at 11 AM on Sunday. During the #MeToo movement, Vinod Dua was accused of stalking and sexually harassing a filmmaker.
Vinod Dua had approached the apex court on Saturday asking protection from coercive action, including arrest and sought the top court to take up his matter on an urgent basis as the case was related to the personal liberty of a person.
Addition to the quashing of FIR, Dua has also asked the apex court to issue a direction that FIRs against media persons with at least 10 years’ of experience should not be filed unless cleared by a committee constituted by every state government comprising the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court or a judge designated by him, the leader of the opposition and the home minister of the state.
“State governments who do not find a particular telecast to be in sync with their political ideologies register FIRs against persons of the media to harass and intimidate them so that they succumb to the line of the state or else face the music,” the petition stated.
Delhi court had stayed investigation
Earlier, the Delhi High Court had stayed an investigation into a case against Vindo Dua in connection with his show on YouTube. On Thursday, a Delhi court had also granted anticipatory bail to Dua in connection with a case registered against him for making defamatory remarks intending to create public nuisance through his YouTube show.
FIR against Vinod Dua
An FIR was filed against Dua in Delhi accusing him of misreporting the Delhi riots and also on charges of creating a public nuisance by false “contextual reporting”.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has registered an FIR against journalist Vinod Dua for circulating fake news through a YouTube video. The FIR was registered following a complaint by Delhi BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar.
The complainant had alleged that Dua had tried to incite communal tension by asking people to step out in large numbers during the riots. He had also alleged that Dua misreported the Delhi riots and Anti-CAA protests while blaming the Prime Minister, Home Minister and BJP’s Kapil Mishra for the riots.
