A country where journalistic criticism or reportage invites charges under laws similar to sedition raises significant concerns about the freedom of the press. The Assam police charged two editors of The Wire with Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for an article in that news portal. This law had evoked a complaint in court recently that it was a reframed version of the sedition law of the Indian Penal Code. The journalists were apparently responsible for an article criticising Operation Sindoor. In 2022, the Supreme Court had already suspended all procedures under the IPC sedition law. Further, the Supreme Court had granted protection from the charge under Section 152 to the two editors as well as all other journalists of the news portal. Soon afterwards, the Assam police registered a second charge under the same law without giving a reason and summoned the two journalists before investigators, stating that non-compliance would mean arrest. Not only was this an outstanding example of weaponising the law against journalists, writers, dissenters and activists that has become commonplace in today’s India but it also showed a refusal to acknowledge the message sent by the court in the first instance. Journalists, who are meant to be free to criticise government action or policies if necessary, have become a favourite target of governments wishing to silence any difference of opinion.

The Editors Guild of India has put forth a statement in response to the harassment of the two journalists and expressed its disturbance at the weaponisation of Section 152 and other laws. It has asked for the lifting of the charges and a removal of Section 152 of the BNS. At the most basic level, the effort to silence opinion is a violation of the constitutional right to expression — Article 19(1)a. All journalists have the right to express themselves and it is important for the Supreme Court to extend protection to them always. It is tragic that this should be necessary in what is meant to be a free country and a democracy. Journalists carry out the extremely important function of providing checks and balances, of giving information, and indirectly keeping in sight the positive values that underlie a democracy. They act as a bridge between the people and the authorities. To harass them and silence them by using the law sabotages journalistic autonomy, the law itself and the Constitution.