New Delhi: A journalist reporting on an Allahabad high court hearing of a plea to set aside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s election on the claim that he is a British citizen said that he had been asked to stop reporting on the court’s proceedings.
LiveLaw associate editor Sparsh Upadhyay wrote on X:
“I was reporting this matter (PIL plea seeking to set aside #RahulGandhi’s LS Election) today from #AllahabadHighCourt when the bench asked me to stop reporting court proceedings and leave the courtroom immediately.
“Aap bahar jakar apni reporting kariye”, the bench said.
The matter was being heard by a bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal when the former said, “Aap bahar jaaiye aur wahan reporting kijiye apni (you go out and do your reporting).”
LiveLaw has reported that the plea was filed Karnataka resident S. Vignesh Shishir through advocate Ashok Pandey. Shishir has alleged that the Rae Bareli MP who was elected leader of opposition in the 18th Lok Sabha is not an Indian citizen but a British citizen and was ineligible to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
The bench sought to remind advocate Pandey that a 2016 order of the Allahabad HC had it that a petition from him had to be filed with a demand draft of Rs 25,000. However, Pandey insisted that his plea be heard and the bench agreed to do so after lunch. When the bench reconvened, Justice Mathur told Upadhyay to leave.
Justice Mathur asks LiveLaw’s reporter to stop reporting court proceedings and leave the courtroom. #AllahabadHighCourt
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) June 26, 2024
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Bar and Bench reporter Ratna Singh noted that this is not the first time that the Allahabad high court has shown such conduct.
“During Adipurush plea hearing last year, both Sparsh and I were asked to not report and keep our phones inside. This is not done. Reporters can’t be humiliated like this,” she said.
Journalist Saurav Das had pointed out in a post on X, that the initial pre-lunch exchange took 27 minutes of the court’s time.
“As if this wasn’t enough, the Bench will hear the matter again post-lunch,” he wrote, adding that this was happening in a high court where:
– 1.07 crore cases are pending
– More than 5,500 bail cases are pending for more than a year
– 21,075 bail cases less than a year
– 733 Habeas Corpus cases (the most urgent type of petition) more than a year.
