The Supreme Court restrained the Assam Police from taking coercive action against senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan and other journalists, including a consulting editor, associated with the news portal The Wire. The ruling, delivered by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, came in response to concerns raised by senior advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, who argued that the Assam Police were attempting to bypass earlier court orders protecting the journalists.

The case centers on an FIR lodged in May 2025, linked to a news article published by The Wire. Ramakrishnan informed the court that Varadarajan and his colleagues were summoned on Friday for statement recording, raising fears of potential arrests. The bench emphasized that while the journalists must cooperate with the ongoing investigation, no coercive measures—such as arrests or raids—should be taken against them. The court also directed them to file a status report at the next hearing.

This order follows a similar Supreme Court directive on August 12, 2025, which protected Varadarajan from coercive action in another FIR related to an article on Operation Sindoor, India’s military strikes in May targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. That case, filed in Morigaon, Assam, on July 11, 2025, invoked Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), a controversial provision critics argue is a rebranded sedition law used to stifle dissent. The Wire and Varadarajan have challenged the constitutional validity of Section 152, with the court issuing notices to the Assam and Union governments.

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The repeated legal actions against The Wire’s journalists have sparked widespread condemnation. Press bodies like the Press Club of India and the Indian Women Press Corps have called the Assam Police’s moves “vindictive,” accusing them of weaponizing Section 152 to target independent media. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin also criticized the summons, warning that using such laws to suppress journalism threatens democracy. As the Supreme Court continues to scrutinize these cases, the rulings underscore a broader battle over free speech and the press’s role in holding power to account in India.

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