Gauhati High Court quashes FIR against journalist for reporting on illegal migration

The Gauhati High Court has held that a journalist raising concerns on issues such as illegal migration, religious fundamentalism, militant activities, and demographic threats to indigenous people cannot automatically be construed as an attempt to promote enmity between groups or to incite violence.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Pranjal Das emphasized that the core duty of journalism is to highlight burning issues of social relevance, even when they are contentious in nature. The court accordingly quashed a 2016 FIR filed against Dainik Janmabhumi journalist Kongkon Borthakur under Section 153A/34 of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups).

The FIR was lodged on November 11, 2016 by Farid Islam Hazarika, President of the All Assam Muslim Students’ Union (AAMSU), Sivasagar, who alleged that Borthakur’s report had disturbed communal harmony and attempted to disrupt peace among demographic groups.

The report in question had highlighted concerns over religious fundamentalism, the demographic threat posed by illegal migrants from a neighboring country, and militant activities associated with such fundamentalism.

Challenging the FIR, Borthakur argued before the court that the publication was based on ground-level research, and that the allegations failed to establish the ingredients of Section 153A IPC.

Agreeing with this reasoning, the bench observed that the material placed on record indicated that the journalist’s intention was not to create disharmony but to inform the public about critical issues. “When tested on the anvil of Section 153A IPC, it cannot be said that the petitioner had intended to create enmity or incite violence,” the court ruled.