SC Agrees To Hear Plea Filed By 4 Editors Guild of India Members Against Manipur Police FIR

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear during the day a plea by the Editors Guild of India seeking protection from coercive action in two FIRs lodged in Manipur against some of its members.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. "We will take it up after admission (matters) are over," the CJI told senior advocate Shyam Divan, who mentioned the matter for the Guild. Divan said two FIRs have been lodged against the Guild members in Manipur and they are seeking protection from coercive action in these cases.

On September 4, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that a police case has been filed on the basis of a complaint against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India and accused them of trying to "provoke clashes" in the state.

A second FIR was also registered against the four members of the Guild, with additional charge of defamation. The Guild, in a report published on Saturday, had slammed the internet ban in the state as being detrimental to media reportage, criticised what it termed as one-sided reporting by some media outlets and claimed there were indications that the state leadership "had turned partisan" during the conflict period.