The Supreme Court on Thursday granted journalist Abhisar Sharma interim protection from arrest for four weeks in connection with an FIR the Assam police has lodged against him over a YouTube video allegedly criticising the state government’s policies.

The bench of Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh declined to quash the FIR, which invoked charges of endangering the nation’s sovereignty along with other offences.

These charges are under a Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section that critics say have brought in by a backdoor the on-paper scrapped law against sedition. Sharma has questioned the constitutional validity of Section 152 of the BNS, which deals with offences related to endangering India’s sovereignty and integrity.

On this aspect, the Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and tagged his plea with similar pending matters.

The judges directed Sharma to approach the Gauhati High Court if he wished to challenge the case.

The bench orally observed that Sharma should not bypass the high court and added that interim protection would be given only to allow him time to seek appropriate relief there, legal news websites reported.

"FIR you challenge before the high court. Why are you bypassing the high court? We’ll give you protection, you go to the high court. Just because you are a journalist…" the court orally remarked, as quoted by Bar and Bench.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Sharma, argued that the police could register multiple FIRs in such matters and stressed the need for uniformity. He urged the apex court to intervene directly, contending that the judiciary’s message to society was important.

Justice Sundresh pointed out that even if the Supreme Court entertained the plea, fresh FIRs could still be lodged.

The bench ruled that the issue of quashing the case must first be raised before the High Court, while granting Sharma temporary protection from arrest.

The order stated that while the challenge to the FIR itself would not be entertained at this stage, the petitioner was granted four weeks’ interim protection to approach the high court, as reported by legal news websites.