New Delhi, Oct. 14 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a directive by the Uttar Pradesh police seeking the digital footprints of a journalist, had reported the alleged donation theft at the Ayodhya Ram Temple, from June onwards in connection with an alleged road rage case registered against him on August 18.

Terming the order issued by the Ghaziabad police to social media intermediary 'X' on August 22 an "overkill", the court noted, based on the response filed by the Ghaziabad commissioner of police, that information had been sought from 'X' to trace journalist Abhishek Upadhyay, who could not be located following the registration of the first information report (FIR).

Questioning how past social media activity was relevant to i...