Supreme Court grants protection from arrest to Abhisar Sharma in Assam FIR but asks him to move HC for quashing

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest to journalist Abhisar Sharma for 4 weeks in the case lodged against him by the Assam Police over a YouTube video criticising the State government..However, a Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh refused to entertain his prayer to quash the first information report (FIR) against him for endangering the sovereignty of nation and other offences.The Court instead asked him to approach the Gauhati High Court for the same."FIR you challenge before the high court. Why are you bypassing the High Court? We’ll give you protection you go to the High Court. Just because you are a journalist…" the Court orally remarked.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sharma, said that the police will lodge multiple FIRs."Some uniformity has to be there. They will lodge another FIR," he said. "Even if we entertain, they will lodge another FIR," Justice Sundresh said.However, Sibal insisted that the top court entertain the prayer to quash the case."Society looks up to this Court. Please don’t do this. This is not done. What message are we sending?" he submitted.However, the Court ordered that the prayer can be raised before the High Court."So far as challenge to FIR is concerned, we are not inclined to interfere. However, we are inclined to give interim protection to the petitioner for a period of 4 weeks so he can approach the High Court," the Court said.Sharma also challenged the validity of Section 152 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) which deals with the offence of endangering the sovereignty of nation.The Court issued notice to the Central government on that aspect of the plea and tagged it with similar matters already pending before the top court."Notice and tag on with respect to the challenge to the vires of the Act," the Court said..The FIR against Sharma was filed on August 21 for a video in which he had criticised the State for allotting 3,000 bighas of tribal land to a private entity and accused it of indulging in divisive politics.The FIR invoked Section 152 (endangering sovereignty of the nation), Section 196 (promoting enmity between groups), and Section 197 (making statements prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The FIR accused Sharma of ridiculing the government, mocking the concept of Ram Rajya, promoting enmity between groups, and making statements harmful to national unity.According to the petition, the FIR against Sharma represents a classic misuse of sedition-like provisions to silence dissent and curb journalistic freedom. It was argued that his remarks were grounded in verifiable facts, supported by video clips of speeches made by the Assam Chief Minister, and contained no call for violence or public disorder.The plea stressed that criticism of government policies, functioning, or political strategies does not constitute an offence under Section 152 BNS. In a democracy, elected representatives must remain open to public scrutiny and criticism, it was submitted.The petition also mounted a constitutional challenge to Section 152 BNS, describing it as a reincarnation of the repealed sedition law under Section 124A IPC. The provision suffers from vagueness and overbreadth, making it susceptible to misuse against critics of the government and thus violates Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and 21 of the Constitution, it was contended.It was further argued that the present FIR exemplified abuse of Section 152 BNS to stifle dissent and press freedom, and that criminal prosecution under a provision carrying life imprisonment for a journalistic video was grossly disproportionate.As per the plea, that the petitioner was only exercising his fundamental right to free speech and press by commenting on political speeches, and that the State cannot misuse law as retaliation against the press..The petition has been filed through advocate Sumeer Sodhi..[Read Live Coverage]