The Editors Guild of India has approached the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of FIR registered by Manipur police against a fact-finding team of the group over a report on the violence in the state. The top court has agreed to hear the case today.
This comes after the Manipur government filed an FIR against the members of the Editors' Guild of India for 'trying to create more clashes' in the state. Chief Minister N Biren Singh lashed out at the Editors' Guild for a report of its fact-finding team on the media coverage in the state. He questioned the authenticity of the team and warned the members of the Guild.
He asked them to visit the ground, see the ground reality and talk to members of all communities to ascertain the truth.
"...I also give a warning to the members of the Editors Guild, if you want to do something, then do visit the spot, see the ground reality, meet the representatives of all communities and then publish what you found," Singh said.
A second FIR was also registered against the four members of the Guild, with additional charge of defamation.
In a report published on Saturday, the Guild had slammed the internet ban in the strife-torn state as being detrimental to media reportage and criticised what it termed as one-sided reporting by some media outlets, PTI reported. It claimed there were indications that the state leadership "had turned partisan" during the conflict period.
Besides EGI president Seema Mustafa, those who were booked were senior journalists -- Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor -- who visited the state between August 7 and 10.
"They are anti-state, anti-national and anti-establishment (people) who came to pour venom. Had I known it before, would not have allowed them to enter," the chief minister claimed.