Journalists are not terrorists: SC

New Delhi: "Journalists are not terrorists", the Supreme Court said on Monday, as it deprecated the Jharkhand police knocking on the door of a scribe of a local Hindi news channel at midnight and dragging him out of his bedroom before placing him under arrest in an extortion case.

Calling the police action "excesses of the state", the top court said it seems that "complete lawlessness" is prevailing in Jharkhand.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli refused to interfere with an order of the Jharkhand High Court granting interim bail to the journalist and said it will not entertain the state's appeal.

"We have seen the facts of the case. These are all excesses of the State and it seems complete lawlessness is prevailing in Jharkhand. No, we are not going to interfere with the High Court order.

"You knock at the door of a journalist at midnight and pull him out from his bedroom. This is too much. You are dealing with a person who is a journalist and journalists are not terrorists," the bench told Jharkhand's additional advocate general Arunabh Choudhary, voicing strong displeasure over the incident.

The top court said the high court rightly granted interim bail to the journalist by a detailed order which does not warrant any interference.

"Sorry, we are not going to entertain your plea. Since it is an interim order and matter is pending there, you go and convince the High Court," the judges told Choudhary and disposed of the plea.

Choudhary alleged journalist Arup Chatterjee was involved in blackmail and extortion activities and a criminal case had been lodged against him.

When the bench asked him about how long Chatterjee was lodged in jail, Choudhary said he was there for two to three days.