Breaking: SC To Hold 'Special Sunday' Sitting Tomorrow To Hear Journalist Vinod Dua's Plea Seeking Protection From Arrest

In a special Sunday Sitting, the supreme court shall take up Vinod Dua's plea seeking quashing of FIR's filed against him from multiple states including the most recent one, registered in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

Journalist Vinod Dua was summoned by the Shimla Police in connection with a sedition charge levelled against him by local Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ajay Shyam.

The summons came two days after the Delhi High Court stayed an FIR filed against Dua for allegedly spreading fake news through his YouTube show on communal violence in Delhi in February. The FIR filed in Shimla is also related to the show.

A bench comprising Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, Mohan M. Shanatanagoudar and Vineet Saran is set to hear the plea at 11 AM tomorrow, which has also sought formulation of guidelines that warrant prior permission before filing of FIR's against journalists. Dua has sought for the stipulation of these guidelines which set up a board for the aforementioned purposes and make prior approval/permission necessary.

According to the Complainant Ajay Shyam, Dua's accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using death and terror attacks for votebank politics led to instigation against toppling of the Government. Shyam claimed that Dua had instigated violence against the government and the prime minister by spreading "fake news".

On June 11, The Delhi High Court temporarily stayed the investigation against Vinod Dua in an FIR which alleged that he was spreading communal disharmony on his youtube show.

While holding that there's no prima facie case against Mr Dua to warrant the registration of FIR, the Single Bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani noted that there was no allegation that any adverse consequences, in terms of enmity, hatred or ill-will, much less any violence or breach of peace, occurred as a consequence of the webcast.

The FIR, which was filed by Mr Naveen Kumar, complained about a section of Vinod Dua's YouTube show which had talked about the riots that had happened in northeast district of Delhi. The FIR further recorded that Mr Vinod Dua, through his webcast, is spreading rumours and misinformation about the sensitive issue of the Delhi riots; and that his comments/remarks in the webcast contain communal overtones, which during the current COVID crisis, is causing public disaffection, which shall cause hatred and ill-will between different communities.