Jammu, June 12 -- Court Quashes FIR and ED Proceedings; Judgment Raises Questions on the Use of Investigative Powers and Protection of Press Independence

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

Delhi High Court's quashing of Delhi Police's FIR and the consequential Enforcement Directorate's (ED's) ECIR filed against online media outlet Newsclick and its Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha is a victory for media freedom, and also an expose as to how Police and Central investigating agencies under PM Narendra Modi Raj are bent on suppressing independent journalism in the country. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed that ED proceedings were "not only mala fide, but also an arbitrary attack and abuse of powers on the free and impartial journalism of the Petiti...