PUCL demands that the Assam police withdraw prosecution against Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar
Aug 21, 2025Freedom of the press cannot be deliberately, arbitrarily and vengefully curtailed by police action!
Repeal Section 152 of the BNS which is nothing but the sedition law in decolonial garb!
The PUCL is outraged at the vindictive action of the Assam police in summoning renowned journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar for investigation in a 2nd FIR on the same allegation with the difference being that the FIR was registered in a different police station in another district. The 1st FIR for which too they were summoned for police investigation, related to an article reporting a statement of the Indian Attache to Indonesia regarding military tactics adopted during Operation Sindoor and IAF jets. The FIR accused the article of constituting acts “endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”.
Ironically, the summons were issued by the Assam police in the 2nd FIR on 12th August, 2025, which is the same day that the Supreme Court ruled that there was to be no coercive action against Varadarajan and Thapar with respect to the first FIR by the Assam police registered against them on 11th July, 2025. With respect to the fresh summons issued in the 2nd FIR, according to the Wire, no details of the alleged offence were provided by police which summoned them to appear before the police on 22nd August, 2025.
The first FIR was filed with respect to offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS): Sec. 152 (act endangering sovereignty); sec. 196 (promoting enmity among groups); sec. 197(1)(D)/3(6) (imputations prejudicial to national integration read with common intention), sec.353 (statements conducing to public mischief), sec. 45 (abetment) and sec. 61(criminal conspiracy).
The FIR invokes Section 152, BNS which criminalises speech which ‘encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India’. The facts in the FIR pertain to a report by the Wire which dealt with a statement made by India’s defence attaché to Indonesia, Captain (Indian Navy) Shiv Kumar. Shiv Kumar acknowledged at a seminar in Indonesia that the Indian Air Force lost fighter jets to Pakistan on the night of 7th May, 2025, during Operation Sindoor, because of the “constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their air defences”.
When the summons as well as the constitutionality of Section 152 of the BNS was challenged before the Supreme Court, the Court ordered that ‘no coercive action shall be taken against them (Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar) and agreed to hear the constitutional challenge to Section 152. During the hearings, the Bench observed that when the offence is with respect to articles published by a news outlet, custodial interrogation may not be necessary. “Basically these are matters where you don’t require custodial interrogation” the apex court reportedly pointed out.
However, the Assam police does not seem to want to heed the implicit message in the Supreme Court order which is that freedom of speech cannot be recklessly and arbitrarily curtailed by police action. Only this heedless lack of concern for the Constitution can explain a second FIR against Varadarajan and Thapar.
The two FIR’s are a part of a pattern to attempt to stifle the independent voice of ‘The Wire’. It should be pointed out that on 9th May, The Wire’s website was temporarily blocked for nearly 12-15 hours in India on government orders following the publication of an article regarding Rafale jets in Operation Sindoor. The website was restored later. All of this indicates a capricious attempt by the State to weaponise the law to silence questioning of state policy by the media and citizens, thereby curbing media freedoms and causing a `chilling effect’.
The indifference of the state to its constitutional responsibility to ensure freedom of the press is only aided by Section 152 of the BNS. Sec. 152 of the BNS through its vague and over broad language criminalises what should otherwise be covered by the freedom of the press. Surely it is not an offence to fairly and accurately report what a serving military officer says!
The fact that Section 152 gives the government a wide latitude to arbitrarily criminalise media reporting alleging that it constitutes ‘encouragement’ of ‘feelings of separatist activities’ and the endangerment of the ‘sovereignty or unity and integrity of India’, strikes at the very basis of media freedom and freedom of speech and expression. Section 152, like the previous sedition law has no place in a constitutional democracy.
The PUCL demands that the Assam police stop this vindictive, malicious and unconstitutional persecution of the press now and withdraw the FIR against Varadarajan and Thapar.
The PUCL also demands that Section 152 of the BNS which is nothing but the sedition law in decolonial garb be repealed.
Kavita Srivastava, President
Dr. V. Suresh, General Secretary