Court drops organised crime charges against Hyd journalists

A Hyderabad court has struck down the Telangana police's attempt to prosecute two journalists under Section 111 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)—a charge reserved for serious organised crimes with penalties ranging from five years to life imprisonment, and even the death penalty if the crime results in death—for allegedly circulating defamatory content against Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy.

- Ayesha Arvind

BENGALURU:

The court's decision comes amid a growing debate over press freedom and CM Reddy's Saturday's warning that individuals "posing as journalists" and posting abusive content against public representatives would be "stripped and paraded in public".

On March 12, additional chief judicial magistrate G Anusha, while remanding Revathi Pogadadanda, managing director of YouTube news channel Pulse Digital News Network, and Thanvi Yadav, an employee, to judicial custody, ruled that invoking Section 111 against them was unjustified. "The essential ingredients of Section 111 of BNS do not attract at this stage as there is no involvement of monetary transactions or other factors mentioned under Section 111," the court observed, dropping the charge.

However, the court maintained other charges under the Information Technology Act and BNS provisions related to creating and circulating false information, stating that the First Information Report (FIR) prima facie contained well-founded accusations.