Bombay HC gives interim relief to web journalist booked under Official Secrets Act

Lance Naik Roy Mathew

The Bombay High Court has granted interim protection to news website journalist Poonam Agarwal and retired army jawan Deepchand, against whom a case was registered under the Official Secrets Act and Indian Penal Code in connection with the death of Gunner Lance Naik Roy Mathew, who was found hanging in an unoccupied barrack inside an Army camp in March.

In a nine-page order, Justice Revati Mohite Dere said that in case the duo is arrested, they can be released on bail after executing a personal bond of Rs 25,000 each, with one or two sureties.

Mathew had allegedly committed suicide following the release of a sting video on the news website for which Agarwal worked, in which he had spoken on the sahayak or helpers system in the Indian Army, The judge stated that she had viewed the edited video clip uploaded on the website. "After viewing the said clip, it appears that the purpose of the sting operation was to show that sahayaks were made to do menial work, i.e. taking the dogs for a walk or the children to schools etc," the court observed.

However, after the video went viral, Mathew felt that he had defamed the army, and feared that he could be court martialled, leading him to take the drastic step. The court observed that it was doubtful whether the case attracted any offence either under the IPC or the Official Secrets Act.

The court, in its order, also directed both the applicants to report to the investigating police officer of the concerned police station in May, and directed Agarwal to produce her laptop, which contains the raw footage of the video clip of the sting operation, before the deputy commissioner of police, Zone 2, in the presence of a forensic expert. The laptop will be returned to Agarwal once the raw footage has been acquired. The next date of hearing is June 13.