NEW DELHI: Irked by Tripura Police’s notice in defiance of orders protecting a journalist from coercive action because of his tweets on communal violence in the state, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the cops to stop harassing the petitioner and his family while warning that if it continued then it would summon the concerned superintendent of police (SP) and the state home secretary.
Appearing for petitioner Samiullah Shabbir Khan, advocate Shahrukh Alam told a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant that though the SC’s orders appear to have not been served on the concerned SP, he would have been aware of the apex court’s orders as it was published widely in the media.
“Despite the orders, po- lice have again served notices to the petitioner and even sent one to his mother. It appears that the house in which the petitioner lived is in his mother’s name, so that could be a reason why the notice has also been sent to her,” she explained.
The bench was told by Tripura standing counsel Shuvodeep Roy that the state police had not been served the order and kept insisting for an adjournment. An irked bench then said, “If this is not harassment, then what else is? We will call upon the SP and the home secretary to remain present in virtual hearing if this continues. You (the state) must show some deference to the court orders. ”
Finding that the standing counsel was facing a tough time, solicitor general Tushar Mehta rushed to his aid and pacified the bench by promising that “the orders of court would be honoured in letter and spirit”. The SG’s statement calmed down the bench.
The bench headed by Justice Chandrachud had on January 10 continued the trend of granting judicial protections to persons allegedly harassed by Tripura police for tweeting on last year’s communal violence and restrained the state police from taking any coercive action against the petitioner journalist.