"How Is Giving A Report A Crime?" Supreme Court In Editors Guild Case

The Supreme Court has also said that the crime mentioned in the First Information Report registered by the Manipur Police does not appear to be made out.

Making some striking observations in the Editors Guild of India case, the Supreme Court has said that the crime of disturbing communal harmony, mentioned in the Manipur Police FIR, does not appear to be made out. The court also wondered how merely giving a report could constitute a crime. 

A case had been filed against three members of the Editors Guild's fact-finding team, who had gone to Manipur to assess the media's reportage of the ethnic conflict in the state, and the Guild's president. The complainant had alleged that the report submitted by the team was "false, fabricated and sponsored", and the charges in the first information report included promoting enmity between different groups.