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The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to a plea seeking the quashing of criminal proceedings against journalist Mamta Tripathi in a defamation case related to a published news article.
A bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal also extended the interim protection granted to Tripathi, preventing state authorities from taking any coercive action against her. The bench also took a dim view of the criminal charges for which the journalist had been booked. It questioned how the private defamation complaint against the journalist has been made into a cognisable offence by the state authorities. Thus, the top court sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government and extended the interim protection that was granted to Tripathi in an earlier proceeding. The case stemmed from a news article by Tripathi about the Uttar Pradesh government's administration. This led to multiple FIRs being filed against her, alleging that the news story was defamatory. The top court granted Tripathi interim protection from any coercive action in October 2024. On March 26 of this year, the court extended the interim protection granted to the journalist for four weeks. Today, the court ordered the interim protection granted to her to continue. (ANI)
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