Supreme Court makes protection from arrest ‘absolute’ for journalist who reported on Ayodhya temple theft allegations

Ram temple in Ayodhya. File | Photo credit: Sunalini Mathew

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) barred the interim protection granted to independent journalist Abhishek Upadhyay from enforcement action in the road rage case, as well as any subsequent first information reports.

Mr. Upadhyay authored investigative online stories about alleged embezzlement and theft of donations at the Ayodhya Ram Temple.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also quashed a notice issued by the Uttar Pradesh police to social media platform X to provide Mr Upadhyay’s digital data, created around three months before the road incident.

The court found the police version that the data was sought to trace/arrest the petitioner “somewhat inconsistent” with the content of his notice on the platform.

The court termed the notification as “excessive” and said that any information received by the police based on the notification would not be used against the journalist.

“The petitioner’s (Mr. Upadhyay) arrest will remain suspended pending appeal,” the court said. She rescinded her August 25 and September 7 interim orders that protected him from arrest and ordered him to cooperate with the investigation, respectively.

A copy of the road rage FIR was supplied to the petitioner, the court observed.

The bench ordered that Mr. Upadhyay can challenge the road rage FIR on any ground. The Supreme Court did not comment on the merits of the case.

The court allowed Mr Upadhyay, who said the road rage case was “staged”, to counter his online reports about the temple and freedom to file a separate petition to protect digital privacy and journalistic freedoms.

The Supreme Court further ordered the police to hand over the journalist’s vehicle within the next two days.

Published – 14 October 2026 15:40 IST