Sedition case: Supreme Court stays arrest of journalists

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stayed the arrest of senior journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar in a sedition case registered by Assam Police until September 15. The court will also consider their petition against the FIR on that day. A bench comprising Justices Suryakant and Joymalya Bagchi advised both journalists to cooperate with the investigation.

Siddharth Varadarajan is the founding editor of the online portal The Wire, while Karan Thapar serves as its consulting editor. The case was filed following a report published by The Wire related to Operation Sindoor. The portal had cited sources claiming that Indian warplanes were destroyed during the military operation and that the political leadership's stance was responsible for it.

Meanwhile, another journalist in Delhi, Abhisar Sharma, has also been booked under sedition by Assam Police. This is connected to the remarks made by Guwahati High Court judge Sanjay Kumar Medhi regarding the transfer of tribal land by the Assam government to a private company. Abhisar had uploaded a video about this on his YouTube channel and alleged that the Assam Chief Minister was spreading communal hatred. The case was filed based on a complaint by Guwahati resident Alok Baru.