No Coercive Action To Be Taken Against Journalist Aman Kumar: HP High Court

FACTS

• The State government issued inter-State travel guidelines to Himachal Pradesh in April, directing that the travel be tracked through the e-pass portal registration process.
• Furthermore, on May 5, another notification was published imposing a 'corona curfew' from May 7 and contained a guideline mandating registration on the government of Himachal Pradesh's e-pass web portal for any form of inter-State transit.
• With his Aadhaar details, the journalist, Aman Kumar applied for e-passes in the names of Amitabh Bachchan and Donald Trump. The e-passes were generated without any authentication.
• The FIR was registered against him under sections 419, 468, and 471 of the IPC, as well as Sections 66 (d) of the Information Technology Act and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act.
• Journalist petitioned the High Court for the quashing and setting aside of an FIR filed.

ARGUMENTS MADE BY THE PETITIONER

• The Petitioner claimed that as a responsible journalist acting in the public interest, he conducted a systematic investigation into the veracity of the administration's claims regarding the verification of registration in the forms of people entering HP
• It was also stated that the petitioner's reality check revealed that the registrations and e-passes were generated mechanically without any verification by the authorities concerned.
• The petitioner has also asserted his right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian constitution, claiming that freedom of the press is a vital aspect of the constitution's provision of freedom of speech and expression.

COURT’S ORDER

• It was held that no coercive action against the petitioner would be taken until the next date of hearing.

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