Karnataka HC Grants Interim Protection to Aaj Tak's Sudhir Chaudhary in FIR Over Alleged Communal Reporting

The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to journalist Sudhir Chaudhary in the FIR lodged against him and Aaj Tak Hindi News Channel in connection with a news report.

The bench of Justice Hemant Chandagoudar passed the order.

Chaudhary and Aaj Tak approached the high court seeking direction to quash the FIR.

Recently, the Karnataka Police filed a case against Aaj Tak and its Consulting Editor Chaudhary, under Sections 153A (pertaining to the promotion of enmity between different groups) and 505 (related to statements leading to public mischief), both of which are non-bailable offenses.

This action followed a complaint filed in Bengaluru by Shivakumar S, the Assistant Administrative Officer at the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation (KMDC).

In the case, Sudhir Chaudhary has been made the first accused, followed by the chief editor and organizer of Aaj Tak, who have been made accused numbers two and three, respectively.

The allegations against the channel and its anchor are that by spreading misinformation about a commercial vehicle subsidy scheme for religious minorities in Karnataka, they conspired to disrupt communal harmony.

As per the FIR, Aaj Tak Hindi ran a show on Monday this week wherein it was claimed that the ‘Swavalambi Sarathi’ scheme by KDMC was only being provided for minorities and not for Hindus.

[Inputs: Deccan Herald]