11/09/2023
|| Army invited us to visit Manipur: Editors Guild of India tells Supreme Court
The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Monday told the Supreme Court that its team had visited Manipur on the Army’s invitation to make an “objective assessment” of the “unethical and ex parte reporting” by the vernacular media.
“We did not volunteer to go there. It is the Army that requested us. We got a letter from the Army,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for the EGI, submitted before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
The bench also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra, however, wondered why would the Army make such a request.
“But why will the Army tell the Editors Guild to come to Manipur…,” queried the CJI.
“Because they wanted an objective assessment of what’s happening there on the ground,” responded Sibal.
“They wanted us to make an objective assessment of what is happening on the ground… We published our report on September 2. On September 3 night, we were prosecuted for offences under the Indian Penal Code. The Chief Minister also makes statements against us… How can we be prosecuted for publication of a report,” Mr. Sibal asked the court.
Posting the matter for further hearing on September 15, the Court said the interim protection granted to the petitioners from arrest will continue in the meantime.