In a recent development, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) president and members received temporary protection from arrest from the Indian Supreme Court in relation to a First Information Report (FIR) filed against them by the Manipur police. Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra were also on the panel, along with Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. The bench ordered that no coercive measures be implemented against the petitioners before Monday, September 11.
The Supreme Court’s order stated, “Issue notice. Keep this (for the next hearing) on Monday. No coercive steps to be taken against petitioners till the next date of hearing.”
Violence between the Metei community and the Kuki community, a scheduled tribe in Manipur, is the background to this case. Tensions between tribal and non-tribal populations arose after the Manipur High Court ordered the state administration to consider adding the Meetei/Meitei community to the Scheduled Tribe list on April 19, 2023.
The EGI President Seema Mustafa and three of its members—Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan, and Sanjay Kapoor—were later named in a FIR filed by the Manipur Police. These individuals were a part of a fact-finding group that had been to the state to evaluate how the regional media had covered the violence. The fact-finding team had come to the conclusion that biassed local news coverage of the disturbances existed.
In response to these legal proceedings, the Editors Guild of India sought the intervention of the Supreme Court.
Senior Attorney Shyam Divan emphasised at the hearing that a report error had been fixed. The report is dated September 2, 2023, but an error was fixed on September 3, he pointed out. The FIR claims that the report is incorrect and that it encourages animosity. We are capturing the coercive apparatus. Please understand our deep concern.
The Court initially thought about awarding protection for a brief period of one week so that the petitioners might look into alternative legal options. Divan, noting additional circumstances such statements made by the Chief Minister accusing EGI of making provocative statements, advocated that the protection should be extended for a longer period of time. The Court then decided to hear the case and provided temporary security until September 11.