New Delhi: The Gujarat high court on February 17 rejected jailed journalist Mahesh Langa’s plea seeking quashing of the FIR filed against him for allegedly confidential government documents.
“…in the instant case, from the material collected by the investigating officer during the course of investigation, prima facie involvement of the petitioner in commission of crime is made out. Moreover, the investigation is at a nascent stage and it would not be proper on the part of this Court to exercise its inherent powers in favour of the petitioner at this stage. In view of the aforesaid discussion, the petition being devoid of merits, stands dismissed. Notice discharged,” said a bench of Justice Divyesh A. Joshi, reported Bar and Bench.
According to the prosecution’s claims in the case, confidential documents of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) were seized from Langa, a journalist with The Hindu, leading to the lodging of the present first information report (FIR).
Langa has been booked for criminal breach of trust, theft by the clerk, and other offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented Langa, said that the journalist was not initially named in the FIR and was arrested based on assumptions. He also highlighted that till date, no official of GMB has been arrested and only Langa has been held, which Sibal said showed an oblique motive in arresting the journalist.
However, the court observed that a prima facie a case was being made out against Langa, and dismissed the plea.
Langa was already in judicial custody in another case when this FIR was registered on allegations that he possessed official documents.
Earlier, Journalists’ bodies had condemned the action against Langa by Gujarat Police.
