Supreme Court grants interim protection to Editors Guild members

Hundreds of protesters during a protest at Phougakchao Ikhai, in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday protected four members of the Editors Guild of India against any coercive action till Monday in connection with two FIRs lodged against them in the state for offences, including promoting enmity between two communities. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also sought response of the state government on the plea filed by the Editors Guild and fixed the matter on September 11.

Earlier, the top court agreed to hear the plea during the day itself. 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. Besides EGI president Seema Mustafa, those who have been booked are senior journalists Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor. They visited the state between August 7 and 10 to study media reportage on the ethnic violence.

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.

Also read: Violence continues in Manipur, but for Centre situation normal, says Congress

Protesters defy curfew

More than 25 people, mostly women, were injured after security forces fired several rounds of teargas shells to disperse thousands of protesters who tried to breach security barricades at Phougakchao Ikhai in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Wednesday, officials said. Defying curfew, hundreds of locals came out o at Oinam and sat in the middle of a road to block movement of police and other central forces' personnel on the way to Phougakchao Ikhai from Imphal, officials said.

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