New Delhi, 27 October (H.S.): The Delhi High Court has declined to stay the investigation into an FIR registered against a woman journalist under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, allegedly at the instance of Delhi Police ACP Vivek Bhagat. A bench headed by Justice Mini Pushkarna clarified that it was neither rejecting the interim relief sought by the journalist nor passing any order on the request at this stage. The court issued a notice to ACP Vivek Bhagat on the woman journalist’s petition, seeking his response, and scheduled the next hearing for November 16.

During the hearing, advocate Tanveer Mir, appearing for the woman journalist, submitted that the FIR had been registered as an act of retaliation following her allegations of sexual harassment against the police officer. Mir also contended that no FIR had yet been registered on the basis of the journalist’s complaint.

Earlier, on October 15, the Supreme Court had directed that no coercive action be taken against the woman journalist for the time being. A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India had also ordered that the journalist, whose complaint alleging molestation was pending consideration, be protected from any coercive action.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the journalist before the Supreme Court, had argued that the case involving alleged caste-based remarks was motivated by retaliation because her client had accused the police officer of sexual harassment. She had also described the case as an alleged misuse of the SC/ST Act.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar