New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea challenging the arrest of journalist Prashant Kanojia, who has been accused of making an objectionable comment against Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media, on Tuesday.
A vacation bench, comprising of justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi took note of the submission that Kanojia’s wife Jageesha Arora had filed, a habeas corpus (bring the person) petition, challenging Kanojia’s arrest and that it needed urgent hearing as the arrest was “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
An FIR was registered against Kanojia on Friday night in which it was alleged that he made “objectionable comments against the CM and tried to malign his image”.
Kanojia had shared a video on Twitter and Facebook where a woman is seen speaking to reporters of various media organisations outside the chief minister’s office claiming that she had sent a marriage proposal to Adityanath.
He was charged under IPC sections 500 (defamation), 505 (public mischief) and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
The verified Twitter handle of Kanojia @PJkanojia said that he is an alumnus of IIMC and Mumbai University and is associated with some media organisations.