New Delhi: Three journalists and an RTI activist, who reported on the alleged misuse of the official helicopter by the Punjab chief minister, have approached the Punjab and Haryana high court after an FIR was registered against them for allegedly spreading misinformation. Apart from them, the FIR also mentions six more individuals and social media pages.According to a report by The Times of India, The FIR stemmed from a social media post by Manik Goyal, a law student and RTI activist, who raised questions about the movement of a helicopter allotted to the CM on December 8, when the CM was on a visit to Japan.The journalists – Bhatinda-based Maninderjit Sidhu, Mintu Gursaria and Mandeep Singh – reported on the matter based on the RTI and subsequently posted about it on social media platforms.According to the FIR, the IT cell flagged multiple Facebook posts – uploaded by accounts operating under the names Mintu Gurusaria, Gagan Ramgarhia, Harman Farmer, Mandeep Makkar, Gurlal S. Maan, Snammu Dhaliwal, Manik Goyal, Arjan Live, Deep Mangli and Lok Awaz TV – which allegedly carried ‘distorted, unverified and factually incorrect’ claims regarding the deployment and utilisation of a helicopter linked to chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann during his official foreign visits.Incidentally, the FIR was registered on a complaint by police inspector Satbir Singh. It did not cite any private complainant. It invoked Sections 353(1) (penalizes making, publishing, or spreading false statements, rumours, or reports intended to cause public mischief, such as inciting mutiny, spreading fear, or promoting enmity between groups), 353(2) (making, publishing, or circulating false statements/rumours intended to create hatred, enmity, or ill-will between different groups (religious, racial, etc.) and 61(2) (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.The Press Club of India has condemned the police action.“The Press Club of India (PCI) strongly condemns the high-handed actions of Punjab Police, which has filed FIRs against Bhatinda-based journalists Maninderjit Sidhu, Mintu Gursaria and Mandeep Singh, for reporting about the alleged misuse of the official helicopter of the Chief Minister of Punjab,” it stated.“It is important to remind the Punjab Police and the Punjab Government that it’s the job of journalists on such routine matters. In case, the Punjab Police or the Punjab Government feel that the facts in the said news reports are in dispute, then there are multiple ways under India’s civil laws to counter the allegations, but filing criminal complaints is not one of them,” the journalists’ body said.“The filing of FIRs gives away the intent of Punjab Government of silencing the press into submission in violation of Article 19 (1)(A) of the Constitution,” it added, urging the Punjab Police and the state government to withdraw the charges against the journalists.