Lawfare, Summons/Notices – Journalists

The Lucknow city police on Tuesday lodged an FIR against journalist Prashant Kanojia for making alleged “objectionable remarks” about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on social media. Kanojia is a former staff reporter at The Wire Hindi.

According to the Indian Express, the case was lodged at the Ashiana police station in the city after a complaint was filed by Shashank Shekhar Singh, a local BJP leader. “I also found some of his tweets containing hate comments which could divide communities, and also disturb law and order of the state,” Singh claimed. Some of the tweets cited by the BJP leader in the complaint are from February.

This is the second time that the UP police have filed charges against the journalist. In June 2019, he was arrested by the Lucknow police for social media posts on Yogi Adityanath. He was released on bail on the directions of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the police stated that they are yet to collect evidence against Kanojia, who lives in Delhi. “Prashant is accused of making objectionable comments about the prime minister and chief minister,” station house officer Sanjay Rai told the Indian Express.