Manipur violence: SC grants interim protection to lawyer in a sedition case

Advocate Deeksha Dwivedi claimed that the contents of the press release were not seditious nor did they attract the other offences alleged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to a female lawyer, who was charged with sedition after she accompanied a fact-finding team to inquire into the violence in Manipur.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing the petitioner, urged a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to grant a stay on her arrest. Dave said a case has been registered against her and it was not possible to approach the Manipur High Court amid the prevailing situation in the state.

However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta countered that the petitioner could have approached the High Court and added that it was not appropriate to claim that approaching the High Court was not possible. Mehta informed the court that senior advocate Colin Gonsalves had previously appeared in a similar case before the HC.

The apex court noted that the petitioner did not have a copy of the FIR and asked Mehta to serve a copy of the FIR on the petitioner, and also asked him to gather more information on the case. After a brief hearing in the matter, the top listed the matter for further hearing on July 14, and directed that in the meanwhile, no coercive steps should be taken against the petitioner.

In the plea before the top court, advocate Deeksha Dwivedi contended that she had accompanied a two-woman team from the National Investigation Forum for Women (NIFW) as an independent lawyer and observer, and in the first week of July, a press conference was held after the inquiry was completed and a press release was issued. After this, an FIR was registered against her and others for sedition, defamation etc, by the Manipur police. The lawyer claimed that the contents of the press release were not seditious nor did they attract the other offences alleged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).