In a verdict delivered on Wednesday, a Delhi court dismissed the plea filed by the Delhi Police challenging a magistrate’s order that directed the release of electronic devices seized from the editors and journalists of The Wire.
Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Singh Rajawat, presiding over the Tis Hazari Courts, observed that the magistrate had not terminated the ongoing proceedings. The order in question did not adjudicate any substantive rights but solely pertained to the interim custody of the electronic devices until the conclusion of the investigation or the case’s disposal.
Judge Rajawat stated that the magistrate’s order was purely interim in nature, rendering the police’s revision application unsustainable.
Furthermore, the Court acknowledged that the prolonged seizure of the respondents’ (The Wire editors and reporters) electronic devices was causing undue hardship. It noted that this action was infringing upon their fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression, as well as their right to engage in their profession, occupation, trade, or business, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.
The Court highlighted the pivotal role of the press as the Fourth Pillar of India’s democracy and stressed that any hindrance to its independent operation could jeopardize the foundations of the nation’s democracy.
The Delhi Police had confiscated electronic devices belonging to The Wire’s founding editors Siddharth Varadarajan and MK Venu, as well as its editors Sidharth Bhatia, Jahnavi Sen, and the product-cum-business head, Mithun Kidambi, in October 2022.
The case against The Wire and its editors stemmed from a complaint lodged by Amit Malviya, the Chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell. Malviya had filed the complaint in response to The Wire’s articles claiming that he had a unique privilege on Meta platforms, enabling him to remove any content he deemed detrimental to the BJP’s interests. The articles were later retracted.
Conversely, The Wire filed a complaint against its former consultant, Devesh Kumar, accusing him of fabricating and supplying documents, emails, videos, and other materials intended to harm the news website’s reputation. This was allegedly done either independently or at the behest of undisclosed individuals.
In September 2023, the magistrate ordered the release of the electronic devices, prompting the Delhi Police to challenge this decision before the sessions court. Advocate Ashwath Sitaraman represented The Wire’s journalists and editors in this legal matter.
