Abhishek Shukla

#WATCH | Shimla, Himachal Pradesh: Rashtriya Devbhoomi Party workers and supporters marched to the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat in Shimla after completing a 600-km, 21-day ‘Swarn Samaj Ashwamedh Nyay Yatra’, demanding the rollback of UGC provisions and legislation. Party president Rumit Singh Thakur said the campaign would continue until their demands are addressed.

The Supreme Court has termed the Ghaziabad Police’s attempt to obtain extensive digital data of journalist Abhishek Upadhyay in connection with an alleged road-rage incident as an “overkill”. The Court observed that while investigative agencies were entitled to probe an offence, the manner in which such powers were exercised could not become a means to access a person’s private digital life. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi quashed a notice issued by the Ghaziabad Police to Upadhyay seeking his call records and other digital data for a period extending months before the alleged road-rage incident. The Court also continued the interim protection from arrest granted to Upadhyay, while leaving open the issues relating to the alleged road-rage case. During the hearing, the Court questioned the necessity of seeking such a wide range of digital information for investigating an alleged road-rage incident. “That appears to be an overkill,” the Court observed. A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi noted that there had to be a balance between the State’s power to investigate and an individual’s right to privacy, particularly when the person concerned was an investigative journalist. “If we keep complete liberty [to investigate],” the Court observed, the “right of an investigative journalist also needs to be balanced. The Court also clarified that it was not questioning the existence of statutory powers available to the police to investigate offences under the IT Act. “We are not against any rule. [We are concerned with the] manner of exercise of the power,” the bench said. The Uttar Pradesh government defended the police action, referring to the Information Technology Rules and submitting that the authorities were empowered to conduct an investigation. The bench, however, distinguished between the existence of such a power and the manner in which it was being exercised. The Court also questioned the breadth of the demand for digital record since June, particularly when the allegation related to a road-rage incident occurred in the month of August. “You are asking service provider [for] his call records for four months for a road-rage [incident] during June. We would understand if there is some conspiracy,” the bench observed.

Delhi Police have registered an FIR at Parliament Street police station following a complaint by Assistant Commissioner of Police Vivek Bhagat, alleging caste-based humiliation, intimidation and obstruction of official duty during a protest at Buta Singh Roundabout on October 3. According to the FIR, ACP Vivek Bhagat, posted in the Connaught Place subdivision of New Delhi district, alleged that a journalist made casteist remarks against him in public while he was deployed for law-and-order duty during a protest against the Election Commission of India. The FIR names Rosy, Gajendra and an unknown person as accused. In his complaint, Bhagat stated that he belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. He alleged that he and his operator, Constable Ravi Dahiya, heard a journalist refer to his nameplate and caste identity and make derogatory remarks about his caste and appointment as an ACP. The FIR has been registered under Sections 221, 356(2) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 3(1)(p), 3(1)(q), 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.