Journalist bodies have expressed outrage over the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against by the Assam Police against journalists Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar, invoking Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.
The Editors Guild of India in a statement said it is deeply concerned by media reports that the Assam Police have summoned Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, and Thapar, consulting editor of The Wire, to Guwahati following the registration of an FIR for allegedly endangering India’s sovereignty.
The summons to the senior journalists to appear before the Crime Branch office in Guwahati’s Panbazar on 22 August 2025, comes just days after the Supreme Court granted Varadarajan and others protection against any coercive action by the Assam Police in connection with another FIR lodged over an article published by The Wire.
It is not yet clear whether the latest FIR is also linked to the same article, which critiqued the government over Operation Sindoor, the guild said in the statement signed by president Anant Nath and general secretary Ruben Banerjee.
According to the guild, as with the earlier FIR registered at the Morigaon police station in Assam, the latest case also invokes Section 152 of the BNS, which pertains to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India. In addition to Section 152, the FIRs invoke other provisions—Section 196 (communal enmity). Section 197(1)(d)/3(6) (false propaganda), Section 353 (public mischief), Section 45 (abetment), and Section 61 (criminal conspiracy).
The Guild says it is extremely disturbed by this continuing trend of law enforcement agencies across states registering FIRs against journalists by invoking multiple provisions of the criminal code. “This practice effectively muzzles independent journalism, as the very process of responding to notices, summons, and prolonged judicial proceedings becomes a form of punishment.”
“The invocation of Section 152 of the BNS is particularly troubling, since it is widely regarded as a repackaged version of the draconian sedition law (Section 124A of the IPC), which the Supreme Court ordered to be kept in abeyance in May 2022 in response to petitions filed by the Guild and others challenging its constitutionality,” it said. “Rather than meaningfully engage with the concerns raised by the court, the government reintroduced the provision in a broader form under the new law. Section 152 of the BNS now extends beyond speech acts (written or oral) to also include the alleged use of financial means to pursue certain objectives.”
The guild said it had written to the Home Ministry in July 2024, highlighting these concerns, specifically regarding Section 152 and other provisions that pose a serious risk of misuse against free speech. It had also urged the induction of procedural safeguards to prevent the arbitrary application of such laws against journalists in the course of their professional work.
In a separate statement, The Press Club of India and Indian Women Press Corps, expressed dismay at “the vindictive actions unleashed by the Assam Police against Varadarajan and Thapar.”
“We demand the immediate withdrawal of the cases against The Wire’s journalists, as well as the withdrawal of the draconian Section 152 of BNS, which threatens freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19(1)a of the Indian Constitution,” the PCI said.
“It is noteworthy that the summons were issued on August 12, 2025, even as the Supreme Court bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi had granted Mr. Varadarajan and all journalists at The Wire protection from any coercive action in an FIR (0181/2025) filed by the Assam Police in Morigaon on July 11, 2025 under Section 152 and other provisions of the BNS. Now, the Assam Police have filed another FIR without mentioning any reason and have asked Mr. Varadarajan and Mr. Thapar to appear before the investigating officer at the Crime Branch in Guwahati on August 22 — on pain of arrest in the event of non-compliance,” the PCI statement added.
The International Press Institute (IPI) has also called on authorities to drop Section 152 charges against Varadarajan and Thapar. “The IPI global network calls on authorities in Assam to immediately drop Section 152 charges against The Wire, its founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan, and senior journalist Karan Thapar, which are in clear retaliation for the outlet’s critical reporting. Further, IPI warns that the continued weaponization of Section 152, which criminalizes actions tantamount to sedition, risks creating a chilling effect on press freedom in India, and calls on the Supreme Court to take permanent steps toward preventing abuses of the law,“ the IPI statement said.
