‘Abuse of Law’: J&K HC Calls 2018 FIR Against Journalist ‘Unique Method of Silencing’ Press
The Jammu and Kashmir high court called an FIR registered against a journalist by police over a news report “nothing but an abuse of process of law” which “establishes malice” on part of the police.
The court observed that police chose “a unique method of silencing” the journalist who in 2018 had written an article on the torture of a man based on a version of the incident narrated to him by the man’s relative and which the police has contested.
Four weeks after the report was published, J&K police had booked the journalist under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) for the report, and claimed that he was trying to instigate the public to block roads and vandalise property. The J&K high court has ordered the FIR against Asif Iqbal Naik to be quashed….
