Supreme Court restrains Tripura cops from arresting two lawyers, scribe

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 17

The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the Tripura Police from arresting two lawyers and a journalist booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967 for their alleged provocative social media posts regarding recent communal clashes in the state.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant passed the interim order on a petition filed by advocates Mukesh Kumar and Ansarul Haq Ansar and journalist Shyam Meera Singh, seeking quashing the FIR against them.

The order came after petitioners’ counsel Prashant Bhushan submitted that the two lawyers had visited the state and published a fact-finding report about the violence there.

Following this, the Tripura Police issued notices under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure to them, asking them to appear before them for questioning.

Booked under the stringent provisions of the UAPA by the Tripura Police, they had moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against them for allegedly tweeting “Tripura is burning”.

The Editors Guild of India had condemned the Tripura Police’s action, terming it an attempt to use stringent laws to suppress reporting on communal violence.

Four Supreme Court advocates — Ehtesham Hashmi, Amit Srivastava, Ansar Indori and Mukesh Kumar — who had conducted a fact-finding inquiry into the communal violence in Tripura — have also been sent UAPA notices for their alleged provocative social media posts.

The Tripura Police have also initiated action against 102 social media accounts under the UAPA, criminal conspiracy, forgery and other charges and asked Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to freeze these accounts and furnish details about the account holders.

Notice to Centre on plea against UAPA

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Centre on a plea challenging certain provisions of the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.