SC agrees to hear Editor Guild's plea seeking protection from coercive action in FIRs lodged in Manipur

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The Supreme Court of India Wednesday agreed to hear during the day a plea by the Editors Guild of India seeking protection from coercive action in two FIRs lodged in Manipur against some of its members.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, PTI reported. "We will take it up after admission (matters) are over," the CJI told senior advocate Shyam Divan, who mentioned the matter for the Guild.

Divan said two FIRs have been lodged against the Guild members in Manipur and they are seeking protection from coercive action in these cases.

On September 4, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that a police case has been filed on the basis of a complaint against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India and accused them of trying to "provoke clashes" in the state.

A second FIR was also registered against the four members of the Guild, with additional charge of defamation.

The Guild, in a report published on Saturday, had slammed the internet ban in the state as being detrimental to media reportage, criticised what it termed as one-sided reporting by some media outlets and claimed there were indications that the state leadership "had turned partisan" during the conflict period.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court set aside the August 5 notification of the election department for the Ladakh hill council polls and directed the issuance of fresh notification within seven days for it.

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A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also dismissed the plea by the Ladakh administration opposing the allotment of 'plough' symbol to the National Conference and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on it.

The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court had dismissed the Ladakh administration's plea against a single bench order allowing NC candidates to contest the upcoming polls for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, on the party symbol.

The administration had approached a division bench of the high court against the single bench order of August 9 which directed the NC to approach the office of the Election Department of the administration of Ladakh to notify the reserved symbol 'plough' already allotted to for in the polls.

According to a notification issued by the election department on August 5, the polls for 26 seats of the 30-member LAHDC, Kargil, are scheduled for September 10 and the counting of votes will take place four days later. (Agencies)