SC Stays Custody of Telangana Journalists

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a Telangana High Court order that had upheld the police custody of two women journalists booked for allegedly circulating a video containing "derogatory" comments against Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on social media.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta agreed to hear the plea challenging the High Court’s October 13 order and sought a response from the state of Telangana.

“Issue notice, returnable in four weeks. In the meantime, the effect and operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” the bench said.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave and advocate P. Mohith Rao appeared for the petitioners — Pogadadabanda Revathi, managing director of Pulse News, and reporter Bandi Sandhya.

The plea stated that the petitioners, though granted bail by a trial court, were later taken into police custody for questioning, which violated the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in multiple judgments.

It further contended that no cogent reasons had been given for placing the petitioners in police custody after 200 days of securing bail, despite their continuous cooperation with the investigation as per bail conditions.

The petitioners also argued that the investigating officer failed to produce any evidence to justify the need for police custody after bail had been granted.

The FIR in the case was registered on March 10 this year for alleged offences under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The trial court had granted them bail on March 17.