New Delhi, 12 Aug

The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained Assam Police from taking any coercive action against senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan in connection with an FIR lodged against him over an article on Operation Sindoor.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued notice on the PIL filed by the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which runs the web portal 'The Wire', challenging the constitutional validity of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with the "act endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India".

"Whoever, purposely or knowingly, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or by electronic communication or by use of financial means, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India; or indulges in or commits any such act shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine," it reads.

The top court asked the members of the foundation and Varadarajan to cooperate with the investigation into the matter.

The Supreme Court tagged the matter with a similar pending plea in which notice was issued on 8 August.

The FIR against Varadarajan was registered after an article was published in 'The Wire' on Operation Sindoor, under which India targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in May in retaliation for the 22 April Pahalgam attack.