The High Court on Friday asked J&K government to file response on a plea by journalist and author, Gowhar Geelani, challenging an FIR registered against him by Cyber Police Station Kashmir, under section 13 of UAPA and section 505 IPC.
In his petition filed through his counsel Salih Pirzada, thepetitioner has challenged the jurisdiction of the Cyber Police Station saying’it cannot investigate the offences beyond the purview of InformationTechnology (IT) Act”.
The Cyber Police, he said, has no jurisdiction to registerand investigate case relating to offences falling under the provisions of UAPAand IPC.
A bench of Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey issued the notice onthe plea after hearing through video-conference advocate Salih and senioradditional advocate general B A Dar, who was representing J&Kadministration. Dar accepted notice on behalf of the respondent. The Court also sought status report inthe matter by May 20, the next date of hearing of the case.
The counsel told the Court that besides a freelancejournalist contributing to Deutsche Welle, The Federal, BBC, Scroll and Quint,the petitioner was the author of “Kashmir: Rage and Reason”.
“There is no material, which forms the basis forregistration of case against a journalist, who only performs his professionalduties, as guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India,”the counsel said.
The action of the respondent, the counsel said, was aimed todeter the petitioner from exercising the professional obligations in accordancewith freedom of expression granted under Constitution of India.
“Any restraint on the freedom of press constitutes violationof the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Press is one ofthe organs through which thoughts and ideas are expressed and discussed,” hesaid, adding any action to implicate the petitioner with the charge of havingindulged in the commission of any criminal offence therefore cannot sustainunder law.
“Since the impugned FIR mentions no offending word thatrequires investigation and trial, as such, the mobilization of a criminal caseon illusory grounds based on mere speculation is illegal and against theprinciples of criminal justice. It is therefore liable to be quashed,” the petitionreads.
Senior AAG, BA Dar however said on the threshold of theinvestigation, the Court has no power to interfere in the matter which wasbeyond its scope of powers exercised in terms of section 482 of CriminalProcedure Code.
Dar told the Court that the investigation of the case hastransferred to Sadder police station.