The Supreme Court of India has ordered the release of journalist Prashant Kanojia, who was jailed on Saturday for tweeting about Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Live Law reports. the UP police picked Kanojia up from his house on Saturday for "defaming" Adityanath, after he shared a video of a woman who claimed that she had a relationship with the chief minister. They lodged a suo moto FIR against Kanojia under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act. But earlier today, a vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi observed that Kanojia’s arrest and remand were illegal and went against personal liberty (read the full order on Live Law). The court also turned down the state’s submission that the petitioner - Kanojia’s wife Jagisha Arora - should approach the lower court or high court for bail. 'Not inclined to sit back': What the Supreme Court said In its three-page order, the court said the nature of Kanojia’s posts was irrelevant and the real question was whether he ought to have been deprived of his liberty for the alleged offence. “The answer to that question is prima facie in the negative,” the court said, adding that the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution were “non-negotiable”. The bench noted that the Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the state argued against giving Kanojia bail on the grounds that a judicial magistrate had already passed a…
