The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued orders staying a police investigation against leading Telugu daily Namasthe Telangana and also issued interim orders directing the Meerpet police not to arrest the newspaper’s top executives.
Published Date – 12 November 2024, 10:53 PM
By Legal Correspondent
Hyderabad: In a significant move, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued orders staying a police investigation against leading Telugu daily Namasthe Telangana and also issued interim orders directing the Meerpet police not to arrest the newspaper’s top executives.
Justice K. Lakshman of the High Court passed the orders on Tuesday, halting the investigation into the case filed by the Meerpet Police on November 1. The FIR stems from an article published on October 1 by Namasthe Telangana, which reported on alleged irregularities involving 290 acres of assigned land in Nadergul, Rangareddy district. The report suggested a large land deal worth around Rs.2500 crore was taking place under the involvement of a government figure’s relative, who was said to be acting as a director for Atulya Homes. The article led to complaints from the Tahsildar, thereafter some persons claiming as local farmers filed complaint accusing the newspaper’s Chairman and Managing Director Divakonda Damodar Rao and Editor T Krishnamurthy of defamation and spreading false information.
During the hearing, the petitioners challenged the FIR, claiming that the charges related to conspiracy, forgery and fraud were unfounded. Senior counsel BS Prasad, representing Namasthe Telangana, argued that the article was based on reliable information and aimed to bring to light issues of public interest. He contended that there was no evidence to suggest a criminal conspiracy or fraud, and that the FIR was filed in retaliation for the article. The petitioners contended that continuation of the investigation will be an abuse of the process of law and that the FIR can be nipped in the bud and that the registration of the FIR is against the Petitioners’ fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and that reading of the complaint do not attract any offence muchless a cognizable offence and the publication was within the four corners of law in the matter of dissemination of information to the general public through the press.
On the other hand, Public Prosecutor P. Nageshwar Rao, representing the police, argued that the charges in the FIR, including conspiracy, fraud, forgery, and violations of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, were valid given the content of the article.
In its ruling, the High Court noted that the charges in the FIR did not seem to correlate with the article published in Namasthe Telangana. The court raised the issue of how publishing a report about a private individual making agreements with assigned landowners under the guise of development could be linked to a criminal conspiracy. It also examined the allegations of fraud, forgery, the use of fake documents, misconduct, and criminal conspiracy, and questioned how these charges could apply to the publication. Additionally, the court sought clarification on how the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, could be applicable in this case. The court emphasized that investigative actions by the police should not be misused to stifle free speech, especially when no clear criminal activity was evident in the reported facts. Referring to Supreme Court guidelines in the Niharika Infrastructure case, the court pointed out that there is no relevance of the allegations in the FIR in connection with the publication of an article by Namasthe Telangana warranting stay in matter.
The court’s interim stay also highlighted that the freedom of the press, as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, could not be overridden without substantial legal grounds. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for December 5.
